Translation by Francesco Mazzaferro
Leopoldo Cicognara
Storia della scultura [History of Sculpture]
from its resurgence to the century of Canova by the Count Leopoldo Cicognara to continue the works of Winckelmann and d’Agincourt. Second edition reviewed and increased by the author
(reprint of the edition of Prato 1823-1824)
Edited by Francesco Leone, Barbara Steindl, and Gianni Venturi
Istituto di ricerca per gli studi su Canova e il neoclassicismo, 2007
Isbn 978-88-902885-1-7
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| Ludovico Lipparini, Portrait of Count Leopoldo Cicognara, 1825 Source: Wikimedia Commons |
[1] Work in eight volumes (plus a CD-Rom). The details of each volume are as follows:
· Volume I: introductory essays by Gianni Venturi, Francesco Leone and Barbara Steindl + Corrective notes to the manuscripts of the History of Sculpture compiled by Pietro Giordani between 1812 and 1817 + Book I (General Considerations), p. 178 + 324; 24 cm.
· Volume II: Book II: Historical and critical memories on some of the main temples of Italy where first sculptures were placed , p. 290;
· Volume III: Book III: The state of sculpture from its revival in Italy until Donatello, p. 492;
· Volume IV: Book IV: The state of sculpture from Donatello to Buonarroti, p. 452;
· Volume V: Book V: The state of sculpture in the time of Buonarroti, p. 550;
· Volume VI: Book VI: The state of sculpture in the century of Bernini, p. 440;
· Volume VII: Book VII: Canova, p. 448;
· Volume VIII: 185 tables + 1 CD-ROM.
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| Front-cover of the first volume of the first edition (Venice, 1813) Source: http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/cicognara1813/0001?sid=f9fdcec4dee5cdb7f98e497198f9b81a |
[2] The first edition of the History of the sculpture by the Ferrarese Count Leopoldo Cicognara was published in Venice in three volumes for the types of Picotti, between 1813 and 1818. The second edition (which is reprinted here), was instead structured in eight volumes, and was published between 1823 and 1824 by the brothers Giachetti in Prato. The two editions differ in three respects. First of all, for the graphical layout: the first one was much more luxurious and therefore much more expensive than the second one. Second, for a different sequencing of the tables: in the first edition tables were placed at the end of each of the three volumes, in the second were all collected and concentrated in the eighth tome. Third, for a revision and update of the text, also mentioned in the title of the Prato version (1823-1824), particularly focused on the seventh tome, dedicated to Canova (who died in 1822). According to the titles, it's easy to see that the first edition was a history covering centuries up to Napoleon; the second version erased the name of Napoleon mentioning Canova.
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| Nicola Pisano, Pulpit in the Baptistery of Pisa, 1260 Source: Wikimedia Commons |
[3] The initial ambitious project of the Ferrarese Count Leopoldo Cicognara, the long-lasting President of the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, was to outline a history of sculpture, and not of sculptors. It was based on "a model of historiography which implied abandoning the method of Vasari's Vite (Lives) in favor of a history of styles: this is based on the analysis of sources, the detailed ‘autopsy’ of art works and the comparison among them - according to the methods developed in the theoretical and practical connoisseurship" (cfr. Barbara Steindl, An analytical framework for the History of Sculpture: historiographical approach and relationship with Giordani, Book I Section Introduction, p. 21). The work was planned as a history of sculpture seen as an art of exquisitely Italian expression (unlike architecture and painting), which reached its climax in the contemporary figure of Antonio Canova, to whom Cicognara was bound by a fraternal friendship (see the exchange of letters Cicognara-Canova published in 1973 by Gianni Venturi and in 2000 by Paolo Mariuz). This work was however also planned as a history of sculpture in the context of each different era, seen in relation with historical events and other contemporary artistic expressions. There is no doubt that this "contextualization" of the history of sculpture represents one of the most innovative aspects of the work, a fact of which Cicognara was justifiably very proud. This is the general outline of the work, within which the count decided to operate. Once coordinates had been set, it was crucial to expose them orderly. To this aim, Cicognara arranged a time grid, starting its history as from 1300 (i.e. from where Seroux d'Agincourt had ended his Histoire de l'Art par les monuments) and dividing it into five epochs, each of which was combined with the figure of an artist summarizing the features and stylistic trends. That's how this history moves from the revival age (Risorgimento) (represented by Nicola Pisano) into Progress (Donatello), Perfection (Michelangelo), Corruption (Bernini), to finally reach the Current state and the glory of Canova.
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| Donatello, David (detail), 1430 ca, Florence, Bargello Museum Source: Wikimedia Commons |
[4] It is well known that from the moment of first conception of the work (we are at the beginning of 1809) Cicognara was advised, encouraged, supported and assisted by the scholar Pietro Giordani, based in Piacenza. He was another leading figure of that cultural milieu that had as a common denominator the esteem of and friendship with Antonio Canova (see Pietro Giordani, Antonio Canova, Giovanni Battista Sartori, Correspondence, edited by Matteo Ceppi and Claudio Giambonini, in which references to the preparation of the great work are very frequent). Fortunately for us, while Cicognara and Giordani very rarely met physically in the long and arduous years of gestation of the History of sculpture, they delivered their considerations on the progress of the work to a dense epistolary. If all letters addressed by Cicognara to Giordani went irretrievably lost (Giordani was a victim of political persecution and customarily burned all the letters received after sending response), approximately four hundred by Giordani to Cicognara have however been conserved. They were mainly studied by Francesca Fedi in The genesis of the History of Sculpture and the corrections by Pietro Giordani (within Francesca Fedi. L'Ideologia del Bello. Leopoldo Cicognara e il Classicismo tra XVIII e XIX secolo - The Ideology of Beauty. Leopold Cicognara and Classicism between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries). Along with this reprint, the correction notes to the manuscripts of the History of sculpture are also integrally published. They were dradfted by Pietro Giordani between 1812 and 1817, and are conserved in the manuscript Classe I 516 of the Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea in Ferrara.
[5] Together with the observations by Pietro Giordani, the work also contains "the notes by Antonio Canova on the chapter of the History of the Sculpture on his own work (Book VII, Chapter III). Those notes were included in the so-called "Cartolaro", hand-written by Melchior Missinini and sent to Cicognara with a cover letter on 8th August 1817. The "Cartolaro" manuscript occupies the last cards (138r - 145r) of the Classe I 516 volume at the Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea in Ferrara "(see Volume I Introductory Section, p. 114).
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| Michelangelo, The Pietà, 1499, Rome, St. Peter's Basilica Source: Wikimedia Commons |
[6] It is perhaps worth referring to what Barbara Steindl wrote (For a classification of the History of sculpture, cit. , Volume I Introductory Section, p. 43) to better understand the richness of manuscripts relating to the History of Sculpture conserved in the Biblioteca Comunale Ariostea of Ferrara: "In the Ms. Class I 516 you may find the corrections and annotations by the two most important among his ‘collaborators’, Giordani and Canova. They made those comments to the individual chapters as long as they had received them for early review. ... The Ferrarese autograph in three volumes, Ms. Classe I 517, contains a complete manuscript of the History, whose chapters reflect different stages in the elaboration of the text: some chapters are glossed at the margins, in other records by Giordani have already been integrated in the text. Finally, some insignificant interventions can also be found in the manuscript Ms. Classe I 518... intended for printing, in which only indexes and some additions are hand-written by Cicognara. The Ms. Classe I 515 contains the materials collected by him for the great work, loosely arranged according to the books of history . The Ms. Classe I 521 retains the extensive correspondence that Cicognara had with other scholars on specific questions and the relevant answers, sometimes very long and detailed"(p. 43).
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| Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Apollo e Daphne, 1622-1625, Rome, Galleria Borghese Source: Wikimedia Commons |
[6] Concerning the reception and success of the work, we return once again to Barbara Steindl (For a classification of the History of Sculpture, cit. , Volume I Introductory Section, p. 58-62). From an economic point of view, the publication of the work was a real disaster for the finances of the Count, who first tried to obtain some grants in Napoleonic circles, then in Austrian ones, in fact only getting a few pennies and then having to take over almost all of the expenses. The finances of Cicognara suffered such a collapse that, in order to bring the work to an end, he was forced to sell his famous library, which is now one of the prides of the Vatican Library. In view of that sale, Cicognara had drawn up the equally famous Reasoned catalogue of the books of art and antiquities in his ownership, which is still today a reference text for scholars. And yet, even the story of the sale was particularly troubled. But this is indeed another story (see about this about Francesca Fedi, Cicognara and the figure of the connoisseur-collector between the Eighteenth and the Nineteenth century in Francesca Fedi, The ideology of beauty. Leopoldo Cicognara and classicism between the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries - in particular pages 71-73).
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| Antonio Canova, The Three Graces, 1813-1816, St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum Source: Wikimedia Commons |
[7] "The facsimile reproduces the original volumes stored at the Museum Library Archive of Bassano del Grappa (volumes I-VII) and the Bertoliana Library of Vicenza (volume of the Tables)" (Volume I Introductory Section, p. 182).
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