Bust of the Genius of Death (from the funeral monument to Clement XIII)

An embodiment of the beauty praised by Winckelmann and in the writings on the neoclassical ideal, the "Genius of Death", whose bust is reproduced here in this cast, is part of the "Funeral Monument of Pope Clement XIII Rezzonico" (1783-1792) made by Antonio Canova (1757-1822) for the St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. Also, part of the same monument is the "Bust of Clement XIII", likewise in the collections of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna. Both casts were donated to the Municipal Congregation of Verona in 1858 by the Pindemonte descendants of the Rezzonico family. The "Genius of Death", which in the original is winged and holds an upturned torch in his hand, a symbol of the extinguishing of earthly life, touches on one of Canova's most courageous moments of iconographic invention, as he elaborates the idea of a figure halfway between the Christian angel and the classical genius.