Stage DesignsFrom the Renaissance until the birth of modern naturalistic drama, theatre audiences expected performances to be staged in stunning, illusionistic sets. What these 16th-19th century 'spectaculars' looked like can be seen in the superb designs reproduced here. This was the period when operas were more like variety shows and the stage designer was often more acclaimed than the singers - the great age of what Wynne Jeudwine, graphic art specialist and former Editor of Apollo magazine, terms the Theatre of Illusion. |
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18th century acting space Alcina Antonio Galli Bibiena architectural perspective architectural sets architetto teatrale artist Bibiena family Bibiena La clemenza black ink blue wash Bolognese brown ink Buontalenti capriccio castra doloris Charles Michelange Challe classical clemenza di Tito cloud machine colonnades Pen colour comedies Country Life Books effects Ferdinando Bibiena Filippo Juvarra Francesco garden Giacomo Torelli Giovanni Carlo Bibiena Giovanni Paolo Panini Giuseppe Bibiena illusionistic ink and wash ink and watercolour intermezzi John Drummond Stewart landscape sets libretto Massazza Mauro Tesi monument Napoletana dell'età barocca neo-classical style neo-classicism opera painted palace Pen Palagi Palladio's perhaps Peruzzi Pietro Gonzaga Pietro Righini Piranesi Presented by Sir proscenium arch Quaglio rococo Sanquirico scaenae frons scena per angolo scena tragica scene design scene of Act Scenografia Napoletana dell'età School of Bibiena seems Serlio Sir John Drummond spectacle spectacular stage design stage picture Teatro Olimpico theatre of illusion Torelli Torellian Vienna vistas wing flats