The adherents of the American alt-right are not known for their delicate aesthetic sensibilities, but there is an exception. They love neoclassical architecture and are calling for it to be deployed in the 250th celebrations this year of what they still call ‘the country of liberty’. Judging from the desecration of the Oval Office and its surroundings, and the plans for the world’s most expensive dance hall, what they have in mind is a style derived not from ancient Greece and Rome but 1950s Technicolor movies. Donald Trump’s White House interior reminds me of Hogarth’s crisp verdict on French 18th-century rococo interiors: ‘All gilt and beshit.’ Expect more of the same.

Trump might be the most philistine president in US history, which, given the competition, is some kind of distinction. And yet, amid the avalanche of executive orders he has triggered, he has found time to decree that future federal buildings should be neoclassical. He first issued an order to that effect in December 2020, which Joe Biden cancelled. Trump reissued it in August last year, when it was published with a title – rather in the manner of a Papal Bull. Predictably, it was ‘Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again’ and stated: ‘Classical architecture shall be the preferred and default architecture for Federal public buildings absent exceptional factors necessitating another kind of architecture.’

What would Trump and his good ol’ boys make of a true giant of neoclassicism like the sculptor Antonio Canova? His achievements are celebrated in a new book by Livio Pestilli (Canova and his World, Lund Humphries), which is full of shrewd observations on individual works and technique, thoroughly researched, and written with a light touch. They might well find in the book some echoes of the world of Trump.

The President himself would probably admire Canova. He was an operator. Canova liked deals as well as ideals. He managed to be trusted by Pope Pius VII, while also working assiduously for the conqueror of the papal states, Napoleon, from 1802 until shortly before Waterloo. That battle was not a problem for Canova, more of an opportunity. Before the dust had settled, Canova had........

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