Although a Virginian by birth, George Washington has myriad associations with New York City, the most obvious of which include the uptown neighborhood, downtown park and bridge to New Jersey that bear his name. But soon, New Yorkers are going to be given an entirely new—and revealing—perspective on the Father Of Our Country when a nude statue of him comes to The Frick Collection next month as part of the exhibition, “Canova’s George Washington,” opening May 22.
The Canova in the title refers to the Italian Antonio Canova (1757-1822), who is considered to be the greatest sculptor of the late 18th- and early 19th centuries. Back in 1816, North Carolina commissioned Canova to sculpt the nation’s first President for its State House at the suggestion of our third President, Thomas Jefferson—who, besides being a slaveholder and author of the Declaration of Independence, had a keen appreciation for the Neo-Classical aesthetic at which Canova excelled.
