"Eterno e visione. Roma e Milano capitali del Neoclassicismo" exhibiton in Milan

Gallerie d'Italia - Milano, from 28 November 2025 to 6 April 2026, present the exhibition "Eternal and vision. Rome and Milan capitals of Neoclassicism"

From 1796, the year of Napoleon's descent into Italy, to 1815, marked by the defeat at Waterloo and the Congress of Vienna, a radical political, economic and social change took place on our peninsula. The momentous turning point of the so-called Napoleonic Age also significantly involved the artistic scene. Only Rome and Milan escaped the decadence of major artistic centres like Florence, Venice, Genoa and Naples. The Eternal City continued to be considered the universal capital of the arts due to the abundance of its heritage, both from Antiquity and from the Renaissance of Raphael and Michelangelo. Artists from all over the world continued to flock to Rome to learn their trade and its economy profited greatly from the presence of their studios and the activity of various workshops, where internationally appreciated bronzes and mosaics were produced.

The exhibition intends to evoke this exceptional creative season, comparing the highest level of artistic production of these two “capitals”, projected towards modern Europe while remaining firmly attached to the greatness of the past, to which they considered themselves heirs, intending to renew its splendours.

The leading artists in the exhibition are two brilliant men who were very close friends: Antonio Canova, one of the most important artists of all time, and Giuseppe Bossi, an extraordinary painter, great connoisseur of Leonardo and sophisticated collector, as well as founder of the Pinactoca di Brera. 

Visitors to the exhibition can admire Antonio Canova's masterpiece, previously thought to have been lost, the large model of a horse currently undergoing exceptional restoration.

Other masterpieces by Bossi, Canova and Andrea Appiani, displayed side by side, will illustrate the creation of the image of Italy, in its well-known and then more popular iconography, due precisely to their genius.

The exhibition also evokes of one of the greatest and most ambitious architectural projects in history, conceived by the Bolognese architect Giovanni Antonio Antolini: the famous Foro Bonaparte, which, although never realised, had a major influence on the transformation of Napoleonic Milan into a city that was both modern yet at the same time projected towards the magnificence of antiquity. With this utopian and visionary undertaking, Milan aspired to become the new Rome, pursuing the great ideal dream of classicism.

Equally fascinating will be the re-enactment of Napoleon's coronation as King of Italy in Milan Cathedral, through the exhibition of the so-called Italian Honours: the cape, crown, sceptre and other splendid objects used during the ceremony, all of which underwent major and exemplary restoration by Intesa Sanpaolo for the 19^th edition of “Restituzioni” in 2022.

The exhibition is curated by Francesco Leone, Elena Lissoni and Fernando Mazzocca.

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