House Museum Pietro Canonica

This building was first mentioned in documents of the XVII century as a “house” in which ostriches, peacocks and ducks were bred for hunting by members of the Borghese family. The modern name of the building - "Fortezzuola" - comes from the battlement "under the Middle Ages", which the site was surrounded during the reconstruction of the late XVIII century . The author of the fence is A. Asprucci. Then, in 1793, F. Jani decorated the facade with eight heads of caryatids over doors and windows. In 1919, the building, which then housed administrative services, burned down and was abandoned. In 1926, the city government gave the house with the plot for life to the sculptor P. Canonik, who put them in order, arranged a workshop with exhibition halls and an apartment, where he lived until his death. After his death in 1959, a house museum was opened on the ground floor of the building, and on the second floor until 1987, the widow of the artist M.A. Ridzho Canonika lived. In 1988, living quarters were added to the museum’s exposition, the entire furnishings of which the widow Pietro Canonica bequeathed to the museum ^[1] .

In front of the entrance gate of the museum are two bronze figures by P. Canon. The monument to the “humble hero” of the First World War, the mule of mountain artillery Skudele, awarded the Gold Medal “For Military Valor” , was erected in 1940 ^[2] . And in 1957, a monument to the Alpine shooter, also by Pietro Canonik, appeared next to him.

• Hall No. 1 ^[3] .: Female sculptural portraits of 1893-1925.
• Hall No. 2 ^[4] .: Portraits of members of the royal family of the Romanovs of 1808-1914, model of the monument to the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder , installed in 1914 on Manezhnaya Square in St. Petersburg ^[5] , high reliefs for the pedestal of the monument to Alexander II . Gravestone sculptures of 1886-1924.
• Hall No. 3 ^[6] .: Equestrian monuments to S. Bolivar (1954), the first king of Iraq, Faisal I (1932-1933); sculptural groups for pedestals: “Capture of Smyrna ” to the monument to Kemal Ataturk (1932), “Field artillery” (1930), “ Battle of Sakarya ” to the monument to the Republic of Turkey (1928); tombstones, including the president of Argentina , H.F. Alcort (1935); model of bronze doors for the church of the abbey of Montecassino (1951).
• Hall No. 4 ^[7] .: A small passage room with busts of Countess A. M. Labia and actress Lida Borelli (1920).
• Hall number 5 ^[8] .: Portraits of representatives of the European nobility, including King of Romania Mihai I (1943), allegorical sculptures "Memory", "Mercy", "Labor".
• Hall No. 6 ^[9] .: About thirty statues and reliefs on religious themes: “ Madonna and Child” (1918), “ St. Paul of Tarsus ” (1940), “ San Giovanni Bosco ” (1934).
• Hall No. 7 ^[10] .: Busts of members of the royal families of Italy , Great Britain and Greece , G. Marconi (1938), Pope Benedict XV , sculptures "Abyss", "Chastity".

• Red Room ^[11] .: Served as a salon for receiving guests. Remarkable is the monumental fireplace of 1581 made of volcanic stone, furnished with furniture of the 16th – 17th centuries. The room features a picturesque self-portrait of P. Canonica of 1956, his oil painting by G. Fulinho and a bust made by his student R. Frediani; drafts for the title pages of the scores of the operas Corinthian Bride (1918) and Medea (1953), written by P. Canon. The windows display the uniform of the Russian Tsar Alexander II and the costume of King Iraq Faisal I.

• The corridor of the first floor ^[12] .: Fourteen paintings by P. Canon, mainly rural landscapes.
• Workshop of the artist ^[13] .: The wooden coffered ceiling of the cabinet is the only one in the entire building, preserved from the time of the Princes Borghese . It was painted in 1832-1839, under Francesco Aldobrandini Borghese, heraldic symbols: eagles and dragons of the Borghese clan, eight-pointed stars of Aldobrandini, triple chevrons of the house of de Laroshfuko , to which belonged to the wife of Prince Francesco. It also houses the chest of Isabella, Margragini Saluzzo , XIV century , made of walnut. On the table in the center of the workshop are the sculptor's working tools, and on a rotating machine, figures for the monument to composer D. Paisiello (1938). On the walls are picturesque portraits and a self-portrait of P. Canonik, “Study of legs and hands” by his teacher E. Gamba (1854), “Turin Laundresses” by D. Kozol (1891). Sculptural portraits of P. Canonic, including busts of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and British King Edward VII . Models of monuments to the Alpine shooter (1920) and the Italian cavalryman (1922-1923).
• Staircase to the second floor ^[14] .: Two children's busts (1920-1921), the sculptural group “Runaway Nymphs ” (1905), samurai armor made by M. Miokin of the 17th century.
• Corridor of the second floor ^[15] .: A carved table in the Rococo style with a large rectangular mirror and a medallion with a portrait of Victor Emanuel I of the Piedmontese masters of the XVIII century; ebony chest of drawers inlaid with tortoise shell, decorated with gilded bronze, French work of the XIX century . Paintings and graphic works: ten etchings by J. Callot “Beggars” (1622–1635), “Male Portrait” of the 17th century French school, “Landscape” by J.-D. Bota of the 17th century, “Female Portrait” by E. Cadolini (1857), drawings by D. B. Quadron (1880–1895).

• Bedroom ^[16] .: Baroque bed with twisted columns; a wardrobe, an armchair and a “corner” of Piedmontese production of the mid-18th century. Painting by an unknown artist, "Descent from the Cross." Family photos of the artist. Photos of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna with autographs. Orders of different countries, which was awarded to Pietro Canonica.
• Dining Room ^[17] .: Massive walnut table of 17th century Bologna work. Venetian trapezoidal buffet in terms of the beginning of the 17th century and a buffet with sixteen tin dishes of Piedmontese production from the middle of the 18th century. Two picturesque portraits of the same boy - “A child in white” and “A child in black”, painted in 1895 by Turin artist V. Cavalleri. Tapestry of the XV century French work “Help to the wounded knight” and tapestry of the XVIII century Flemish work “Landscape”.
• Hall of the salon ^[18] .: A small room in front of the entrance to the music salon. There is a 17th-century Venetian chest of drawers inlaid with ivory , a dressing table with a mirror in a carved frame, and two 18th-century Piedmont walnut chairs. Picturesque carved door decorations in the frame (1750). A large painting by V. Cavalleri “ Donizetti writes his last opera” (1897).
• Music Salon ^[19] .: Piano by Erara , after which P. Canon wrote music. On the music stand - notes of "Medea", his latest opera. Furniture - Piedmontese production of the middle of the XVIII century. " Saint Justina " is a panel of the 16th century polyptych , authorship, presumably, by Defendent Ferrari. Bronze figurine of the work of P. Canon “The Dressmaker of Tina” (1921). A significant collection of paintings by the Piedmontese school of the second half of the 19th century: “Pahni in the stable” by R. Pasquini (1880–1889), “Desert in East Persia ” by A. Pasini (1857), “Flower Market in Nuremberg ” by E. Gamba (until 1854) , “Park in Morozzo ” by L. Delleani (1891).

The museum library is open to the public. It has about 2200 volumes, among which are both books by P. Canonika and recently acquired literature on sculpture and other fine arts of the 19th — 20th centuries. In the collections of the library you can also find photos and family archives of Pietro Canonica ^[20] .

Gallery of museum exhibits (neopr.) . Date of treatment October 14, 2013.