Bibiena, Ferdinando Galli
Bologna 1656 – 1743 Bologna

Varie opere di Prospettiua inventate da Ferdinando Galli d:o il Bibiena Bolognese Pittore, et Architetto dell A: SS.ma del Sig:re Duca di Parma Raccolte da Pietro Abbati, et intagliate da Carlo Antonio Buffagnotti

‘Le diede in Luce, e Stampò Giacomo Camillo Mercati in Bologna’ [undated]

folio (520 × 385 mm), 72 plates including title, etchings, signed by Pietro Giovanni Abbati (1683–1733), Carlo Antonio Buffagnotti (c. 1660–after 1715), Giuseppe Antonio Caccioli (1672–1740), or anonymous, after designs by Ferdinando Bibiena (except, as often, pl. 24 after Francesco Bibiena, pl. 62 after Agostino Mitelli, and pl. 65 after Angelo Michele Colonna), numbered in brown ink in an old hand in extreme lower right corner (1–73; 34 passed over). The plates are struck on different papers of varying sheet sizes and left untrimmed; the larger prints are mounted by the binder on guards (except pl. 62, window-mounted), the smaller prints are bound in on their own paper.

paper binder’s front endleaf is heavy French off-white laid paper from the Dupuy mill, La Grandrive, Marsac, Auvergne, watermarked: T Dupuy [Fyn?] / Auvergne 1742; the lower free endleaf has water­mark of a chaplet (height 130 mm). The prints are struck on various Bolognese papers (see below).

condition some short tears in sheet edges, occasional foxing and waterstaining, and other minor defects, but rarely affecting images. The unrestored binding is structurally sound, however the spine is worn, and the corners and edges are heavily abraded.

provenance Marlborough Rare Books, ‘Catalogue Fifty-four’, London 1965, item 95 (£900) — Arthur (1922–2012) & Charlotte Vershbow (1924–2000), exlibris — Christie’s, ‘The Collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow. Part Three: The Baroque and Rococo Periods’, New York, 20 June 2013, lot 397

binding 18th-century calf-backed boards (530 × 398 mm), the back divided into compartments by six raised bands, decorated in gilt, with lettering piece: Bibi | ena | Opera.

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Title-plate (■ 1), featuring a medallion portrait of Ferdinando Bibiena by Giuseppe Antonio Caccioli (448 × 330 mm, platemark)

This extraordinary publication comprised of mostly large-format plates is a celebration of Ferdinando Galli Bibiena’s early activity as a designer of theatrical scenery and ephemeral architecture. An ‘incunabulo della scena per angolo’, conceived a decade before Bibiena’s L’archittetura civile (1711), it disseminated his revolutionary style of stage design, in which palace interiors or courtyards are given the illusion of immense space through the use of multiple vanishing points.¹ Bibiena’s maniera d’angolo was imi­tated by architects across Europe, and soon became the consummate expression of high baroque scenography.²

The Varie opere di Prospettiua was ‘collected’ (raccolte) by Pietro Giovanni Abbati (fl. 1683–1745), a pupil of Ferdinando Bibiena during his tenure as ‘Pittore di Corte’ to the Farnese Dukes of Parma. The earliest of the recognisable designs in the volume relate to Ferdinando’s activities in Emilia during the 1680s and 1690s: the reconstruction of the Collegio dei Nobili di Parma, in 1684 (plates ■ 22–23, 55); a project for the gardens of the Rocca Meli Lupi di Soragna, in 1685 (■ 15); a stage set with theatrical machine for a performance of ‘La pace tra Tolomeo e Seleuco’ in Piacenza, in 1691 (■ 29); and two cata­falques erected for the esequies of Ranuccio ii Farnese, in 1695 (■ 37–38), one of which Abbati etched himself. In 1699, Abbati was competent enough to travel to Turin to execute in the Teatro Regio Bibiena’s scene designs for the two Carnival entertainments ‘Esione’ and ‘Endimione’ (■ 3–10, 27–28, 35).

Bibiena’s ephemeral architecture for Farnese court spectacles was recorded in several lavishly illustrated publications,³ and before long other designers began to copy his innova­tions, and to publish their imitations. The impetus to make this compilation of Bibiena’s work may thus have come from publications of rivals, such as those by Andrea Pozzo and by the Bolognese painter of scenography and quadratura, Marcantonio Chiarini.⁴

The funeral apparati designed by Bibiena in April 1695 for the church of Santa Maria di Campagna in Piacenza was etched on two large plates by Carlo Antonio Buffagnotti (1660–after 1715), an industrious printmaker and painter from Bologna.⁵ Buffagnotti had learned prospettiva and quadratura from Domenico Santi (1621–1694) and in the 1680s he began producing print suites of architecture designed by Santi, or his own inventions.⁶ These suites were published anonymously – except for three undated editions of designs for ceil­ings, which bear the name of a local printseller, Giacomo Camillo Mercati.⁷ An accom­plished cellist, Buffagnotti produced in addition sets of prints of instrumental music.⁸ In 1694 and 1695 he etched two suites of prints of Chiarini’s scenography,⁹ and through those publications may have proved his competence to Bibiena.

When Buffagnotti became Abbati’s collaborator in produc­tion of the Varie opere di Prospettiua – he is credited together with Abbati on the title-plate, and signs 26 of the 72 plates¹⁰ – Mercati became the publisher. Giacomo Camillo Mercati is an obscure figure; the three undated suites of prints by Buffagnotti, and the Varie opere di Prospettiua, are the only publications certainly associ­ated with him. It seems that was once a lay member of a reli­gious or mendicant order, and when he became thereafter a hawker of popular prints (‘mercanzia di carte’), he was known as the ‘Frate dalle Carte’.¹¹

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In the original state of the title-plate, the publication line reads ‘Le diede in luce e stampò Giacomo Camillo Mercatiin Bologna, l’anno’ with a date, variously interpreted as 1707 and 1701 (Fig. 1).¹²

It is certain that the work had entered commerce – in some form, not necessarily yet accompanied by Mercati’s title-plate – by 1704, in which year ‘Architetture diverse di Ferdinando Galli, detto il Bibiena’, a collection of sixty folio plates, is cited in a collection of artists’ biographies compiled by Pellegrino Antonio Orlandi (1660–1727).¹³ In a similar work on Bolognese authors, published by Orlandi in 1714, the same details were repeated.¹⁴ When Orlandi published a second edition of his artists’ biographies, in 1719, he reported as the work of Ferdinando Bibiena ‘Architetture, e prospettive da Camera, e da Teatro’, a collection of seventy-one plates, issued at Bologna by ‘Lunghi’.¹⁵Also in this edition, Orlandi reported Buffagnotti’s various suites of prints as for sale ‘presso il Lunghi Stampatore in Bologna’.¹⁶

The date of the transfer of the plates to the publisher Giacomo Pellegrino Longhi is uncer­tain, but was possibly circa1711, when Longhi published Bibiena’s L’archittetura civilein partnership with Paolo Monti of Parma and the author, and certainly no later than August 1718.¹⁷ Longhi apparently erased the words ‘l’anno’ and also the date from the publication line on the title-plate (Fig. 2); he did not add his name, or revise any other matrice. Investi­gation of the stock catalogues of the Longhi shop might clarify when the matrices were obtained, how the prints were distributed, and dates of issue.¹⁸

The eleven plates introduced into the volume around 1717–1719 (raising the total from 60 to 71) are believed to be those documenting scenery designed by Bibiena and executed by Abbati for the two spectacles performed in Turin in 1699.¹⁹ Multiple sets (title and eleven prints) bound with varying combinations of etchings occurring in Varie opere are known (see census). Such albums could be evidence that some of the prints were sold separately from the Varie opere, before and after production of the title-plate.²⁰

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The title-plate for this series of eleven plates (Figs. 3–4) is lettered in all known impres­sions with a dedication to ‘Carlo Emanvelle Dvca di Savoia Principe di Piemonte Re di Cipro &c’. The words ‘Carlo Emanvelle’ appear to be reworked, and it is speculated that the plate might once have read ‘Vittorio Amedeo’, and was altered when Carlo Emanuele became heir apparent after the sudden death of his elder brother (22 March 1715).²¹ Three plates in the series are signed by the printmaker Buffagnotti: the title plate (■ 2), and the plates for ‘Endimione’, Act iii, scene 1 (■ 9) and ‘Esione’, Act ii, scene 2 (■ 35); the other nine, unsigned plates probably were etched by Buffagnotti also (3–8, 10, 27–28).

A larger group of sixteen plates also may have been sold as a separate suite, independently of the Varie opere. These plates show asymmetrical cartouches, window frames, capitals, cornices, friezes, volutes, corbels, and other architectural ornaments, mostly isolated, on plain backgrounds (■ 39–54). The matrices are of near-uniform dimensions; each one carries a production line identifying Bibiena as designer, and Buffagnotti as printmaker (Fig. 5). The exuberance of the designs suggests that they are models for theatre decoration, or stage sets. It could be that the prints were derived from one of Bibiena’s sketchbooks. A surviving fragment of a sketchbook, or studio notebook, suggests that Bibiena would initially work out details, with alternatives, before proceeding to sketch an entire set.²²

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The plate of a scene in ‘La pace fra Tolomeo e Seleuco’ (■ 29), performed in the Nuovo Teatro Ducale di Piacenza for the entertainment of Ranuccio ii Farnese in 1691, and the two plates depicting catafalques erected for the duke’s funeral in April 1695 (■ 37–38), also could have been distributed independently of the Varie opere. It is likely that they were etched and printed in Parma near the dates of those events,²³ and the matrices trans­ferred afterwards to Bologna, into the hands of Mercati and later Longhi.

Our copy of the Varie opere di Prospettiua contains two plates of designs by the quadra­turisti Agostino Mitelli (■ 62) and Angelo Michele Colonna (■ 65) which may have been etched about 1660. The two plates are found in other copies: both are present in the copy in the Victoria & Albert Museum;²⁴ both are present in the Prince d’Essling-Philip Hofer copy;²⁵ both were in the copy in the Kunstbibliothek Berlin;²⁶ the Mitelli plate (Fig. 6) is reported in the copy in the Biblio­thèque nationale de France;²⁷ and the Colonna plate is reported in copies in the Metropolitan Museum of Art²⁸ and National Gallery of Art, Washington, dc. ²⁹

The lack of any formal sequence of the unnumbered plates, or else their great variation in size, and the scarcity of bound copies, has discouraged consideration of the work by bibli­ographers.³⁰ Few attempts have been made to detail the contents. The impressions most often studied and reproduced are found in the Museo teatrale alla Scala, in Milan, as loose sheets, which – judging by their inventory numbers – have different provenances. ‘Virtual’ copies of the Varie opere comprising 71 or 72 plates were constructed from these loose prints by Mario Monteverdi, in 1975³¹ and 1976.³² Monteverdi includes five plates etched by Buffagnotti which are not known in bound copies of the Varie opere;³³ he excludes a plate of scenography designed by Francesco Bibiena for the Accademia degli Ardenti of Bologna in 1703 which occurs in some copies, including our own (■ 24).³⁴ Monteverdi likewise excludes the two plates after designs by Mitelli (■ 62) and Colonna (■ 65) which are found in multiple copies.

The present copy contains 72 plates (including the title-plate Varie opere). The same 72 plates occur in the bound album in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London; another copy containing 72 plates was once in the Biblioteca dell’ Univer­sità di Bologna. Other large copies are in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (71 plates), Metropolitan Museum of Art (71 plates), and National Gallery of Art (67 plates). No copy containing 60 plates – the number specified by Orlandi, in 1704 – has yet been located.

Variations between copies could reflect the particular interests of the purchaser or a later owner, or signal the retirement of specific matrices over years. Reconstruction of the publi­cation history of the Varie opere will present many challenges. As a contribution to that project we offer a provisional census and analysis of copies examined, together with repro­ductions of all the prints in our volume, and images of the watermarks in the paper stocks employed.

Provisional census

Varie opere

● Berlin, Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, OS 2627 (25 plates only, includ­ing title-plate Varie opere; bound; evidently lost 1939–1945)³⁵● Bologna, Università di Bologna, Biblioteca di Ingegneria ‘Gian Paolo Dore’, Sala BLIN. P.I. 541 (22 loose prints)³⁶● Bologna, Università di Bologna, A V L III 5 (72 plates, including title-plate Varie opere; bound in two volumes; evidently lost)³⁷ ● London, British Museum, Prints & Drawings, 1949,1008.262–272, 274–310 (48 loose prints, lacking title-plate Varie opere)³⁸ ● London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Prints & Drawings, E.1721-1930 (72 plates; including title-plate Varie opere; bound)³⁹ ● Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, Biblioteca Teatrale Livia Simoni, coll. scen. 511 etc. (loose prints, including title-plate Varie opere)⁴⁰ ● New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926.44(2) (71 plates, including title-plate Varie opere; bound)⁴¹ ● Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Hb 20a (71 plates, including title-plate Varie opere; bound)⁴²● Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizzi, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inventario 37–40, 2908–2913, 2933, 3016, 24930–24931 (14 loose prints, including title-plate Varie opere)⁴³ ● Rome, Biblioteca di Archeologia e storia dell’arte, Rari 714 (33 plates, inclu­ding title-plate Varie opere)⁴⁴ ● Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, 20 A.I.74 a 1–2, 5, 10–17 / 21–58 (49 plates)⁴⁵● Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, 20 B.I.88.1, 42, 45–46, 48–49, 50–51, 52–54, 55–56, 57, 62, 64–68, 70–76 (27 plates, including title-plate Varie opere)⁴⁶ ● Rome, Gabinetto nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, 10866, 19753–19755, 23960–23963, 23965, 23969, 23971, 23974–23975, 23978–23992, 37135–3712 (47 loose prints, lacking title-plate Varie opere)⁴⁷ ● Vienna, Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Wien, Bibliothek-Inv. 3092 (including title-plate Varie opere)⁴⁸ ● Washington, dc, National Gallery of Art, David K.E. Bruce Fund, 1985.61.393 (67 plates, lacking title-plate Varie opere; bound)⁴⁹ ● Unlocated (sold in 1811)⁵⁰ ● Unlocated (formerly with Isidore-Justin-Séverin, baron Taylor, 1789–1879)⁵¹ ● Unlocated (23 plates, formerly with Jacques-Joseph Techener, 1802–1870)⁵² ● Unlocated (63 plates, formerly with Victor Masséna, prince d’Essling, 1836–1910; Philip Hofer, 1898–1984)⁵³

Disegni delle scene

● Berlin, Kunstbibliothek – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, OS 4143 (11 plates, including title-plate Disegni delle Scene; bound)⁵⁴ ● Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, 792.63 B58 (within a group of 18 mounted plates, including title-plate Disegni delle Scene)⁵⁵ ● New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, 077473 (within a group of 28 plates, lacking title-plate Disegni delle Scene; bound)⁵⁶● Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Collection Rondel, Fol-Ric-244 (within a group of 19 plates) ● Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, BB I 27105 (41 plates, including title-plate Disegni delle scene; bound)⁵⁷ ● Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, 20 A.I.74 a 3-4, 6-9 / 18-20 (nine prints, lacking one in Esione and two in Endimione)⁵⁸ ● Turin, Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria, q. ^m IV. 76 (Atl.) (31 plates, inclu­ding title-plate Disegni delle scene; bound)⁵⁹ ● Turin, Biblioteca Reale, A 79 (4) ● Turin, Museo Civica di arte antica, Inv. 733⁶⁰ (loose prints)

Bibliography

Bellettini 1996
Pierangelo Bellettini, ‘Il gonfalone, l’ancora e la stella. Filigrane bolognesi nella prima metà del secolo xviii’ in L’Archiginnasio: bullettino della Biblioteca comunale di Bologna 91 (1996), pp.163–203

Cirillo 2007
Giuseppe Cirillo, Architettura dipinta: le decorazioni parmensi dei Galli Bibiena, catalogue of an exhibition held in Collecchio at the Centro culturale Villa Soragna, 13 October–25 November 2007 (Parma [2007])

Cirillo & Godi 1989
Giuseppe Cirillo and Giovanni Godi, Il trionfo del Barocco a Parma nelle feste farnesiane del 1690 (Parma 1989)

Davoli 1996
Gabinetto delle stampe A. Davoli, La raccolta di stampe Angelo Davoli: catalogo generale. Volume secondo: Bip–Car, compiled by Zeno Davoli and Chiara Panizzi (Reggio Emilia 1996)

Filigrane bolognesi
Biblioteca comunale dell’Archiginnasio website: ‘Filigrane bolognesi tra 1650 e 1750: Repertorio di filigrane impiegate dai cartari bolognesi a contrassegno della propria produzione (website)

Horak 2008
Marco Horak, ‘Dalla scenografia all’architettura: catafalchi, ancone ad altari, l’influenza di Ferdinando Galli Bibiena nella teatralità degli apparati liturgici’ in Il Premio ‘Piero Gazzola’ 2008 per il restauro dei palazzi piacentini: Palazzo Paveri Fontana, Castel San Giovanni / FAI, Delegazione di Piacenza … Restauro e recupero: Giorgio Graviani, edited by Anna Còccioli Mastroviti (Piacenza 2008), pp.39–44

Lenzi 1991
Deana Lenzi, ‘Ferdinando e Francesco Galli Bibiena. I “grande padri” della veduta per angolo’ in Architetture dell’inganno: cortili bibieneschi e fondali dipinti nei palazzi storici bolognesi ed emiliani, edited by Anna Maria Matteucci and Anna Stanziani (Bologna 1991), pp.91–110

Lenzi & Bentini 2000
I Bibiena: una famiglia europea, edited by Deanna Lenzi and Jadranka Bentini (Venice 2000)

Mancini, Muraro & Povoledo 1975
Illusione e pratica teatrale: proposte per una lettura dello spazio scenico dagli Intermedi fiorentini all’opera comica veneziana, catalogue of an exhibition, edited by Franco Mancini, Maria Teresa Muraro, and Elena Povoledo ([Vicenza] 1975)

Matteucci 1980
L’arte del Settecento emiliano: architettura, scenografia, pittura di paesaggio, catalogue of an exhibition in the Museo civico, Bologna, 8 September–25 November 1979, edited by Anna Maria Matteucci [et al.] (Bologna 1980)

Mayor 1945
A. Hyatt Mayor, The Bibiena family (New York 1945)

Monteverdi 1975
I Bibiena: disegni e incisioni nelle collezioni del Museo teatrale alla Scala, catalogue of an exhibition in the Casa del Mantegna, Mantua, 7 September–4 November 1975, edited by Mario Monteverdi (Milan 1975)

Monteverdi 1976
Museo Teatrale alla Scala, 3: Scenografia e costume, compiled by Mario Monteverdi (Milan 1976)

Muraro & Povoledo 1970
Disegni teatrali dei Bibiena, catalogue of an exhibition, edited by Maria Teresa Muraro and Elena Povoledo (Vicenza 1970)

Oechslin 1975
Werner Oechslin, ‘Il contributo dei Bibiena: nuove attività architettoniche’ in Bollettino del Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio 17 (1975), pp.131–159

Pigozzi 1985
In forma di festa: apparatori, decoratori, scenografi, impresari in Reggio Emilia dal 1600 al 1857, catalogue of an exhibition, Teatro municipale Romolo Valli, Reggio Emilia, November-December 1985 (Bologna 1985)

Pigozzi 1992
Marinella Pigozzi, ‘Ferdinando Galli Bibiena: Varie opere di prospettiva. Traduzione e diffusione di modelli e tipologie in centri e periferie’ in Il Barocco romano e l’Europa. Centri e periferie del barocco: corso internazionale di alta cultura, edited by Marcello Fagiolo and Maria Luisa Madonna (Rome 1992), pp.635–658

Pigozzi 2008
Marinella Pigozzi, ‘Ferdinando Galli Bibiena. Dalla prassi, all’esemplare traduzione inciso­ria, alla teoria, agli esiti didattici. Dall’impresa familiare all’Accademia Clementina’ in Il Premio ‘Piero Gazzola’ 2008 per il restauro dei palazzi piacentini: Palazzo Paveri Fontana, Castel San Giovanni / FAI, Delegazione di Piacenza... Restauro e recupero: Giorgio Graviani, edited by Anna Còccioli Mastroviti (Piacenza 2008), pp.29–38

Pollak & Baines 2000
The Mark J. Millard Architectural Collection. Volume iv: Italian and Spanish books: fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, by Martha Pollak, Claire Baines [et al.] (Washington, dc & New York 2000)

Rava 1965
Scenografie del Museo teatrale alla Scala dal xvi al xix secolo, catalogue of an exhibition organised by the Fondazione ‘Giorgio Cini’, edited by Carlo Enrico Rava (Venice 1965)

Ricci 1915
Corrado Ricci, I Bibiena, architetti teatrali. Con circa 100 illustrazioni intercalate ed in tavole fuori testo (Milan 1915)

Sopher & Lazzaro-Bruno 1978
Seventeenth-century Italian prints, catalogue of an exhibition in the Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, 14 November–31 December 1978, by Marcus S. Sopher and Claudia Lazzaro-Bruno (Stanford, ca 1978)

Watermarks

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Fig. 2
Papal ombrellino (gonfalone), g r (130 × 53 mm)
Visible in prints ■ 2, 4, 15, 17, 18, 35, 39, 51, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61, 66, 68
Reproduction above from print ■ 57
Watermark in print ■ 36 is a variant, with pointed tails on the canopy
From a mill associated with Gaetano Rossi, ‘cartaro del Moro’⁶¹

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Fig. 3
Eight-point star with initials d m | l (70 × 42 mm)
Visible in prints ■ 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 28, 41, 42, 48, 53.
Reproduction above from print ■ 42
Watermark in prints ■ 6, 27, 47, 52, 55 is a close variant,
the star pierced with a circular hole at the centre
From a mill associated with Domenico Maria Lamma⁶²

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Album contents

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■ 1

[Title:] Varie opere di Prospettiua inuentate, | da Ferdinando Galli d:o il Bibiena Bolognese Pittore, | et Architetto dell A: SS.ma del Sig:re Duca di Parma Raccolte da | Pietro Abbati, et intagliate da Carlo Antonio Buffagnotti | Le diede in Luce, é Stampò Giacomo Camillo Mercati | in Bologna [erasure]. [Medallion portrait of Ferdinando Bibiena by Giuseppe Antonio Caccioli (1672–1740), lettering around:] Ferdinandvs de Gallis Dictvs Bibiena Bono | niensis Pictor et Architectvs Sereni | ssime Dvcis Parme. [Signed, lower left:] Caccioli F.

Etching, 448 × 330 mm (platemark), 505 × 370 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio. Two short tears crossing platemark.

A single impression is known (formerly in the Sopher Collection; now San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Marcus Sopher, 1988.1.277) in which the lettering continues ‘… in Bologna l’anno 1701’;⁶⁷ all others are in a later state, with the letters ‘l’anno’ and numerals ‘1701’ removed from the plate (compare Figs. 1–2 above).

Adam Bartsch, Le Peintre-Graveur, xix (Vienna 1819), pp.438–439 no. 3; The Illustrated Bartsch, 43 (New York 1982), p.450 no. 3 (437) (from Vienna, Albertina); Ricci 1915 frontispiece; Mayor 1945 pl. 1 (from New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926.44/2); Monteverdi 1975 p.23 no. 6 Tav. 4 and Lenzi & Bentini 2000 pp.376–377 no. 110 and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 4 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 511); Sopher & Lazzaro-Bruno 1978 p.52 fig. 81. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, Prints & Drawings, E.1696-1930 (f. 1); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle Stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 3016 (image)⁶⁸

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■ 2

[Title:] Disegni delle Scene, che Seruano alle due opere, che si | rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di | Torino inuenzioni di Ferdinando Bibiena, Architetto e Pitore | del Ser:mo Sig.rr Duca di Parma poste in opra, dipinte | dedicate da me Pietro Gioanni Abbati all’Altezza | Reale di Carlo Emanvelle Duca di Savoia | Principe di Piemonte Re di Cipro & c. [Signed, left:] Carlo Antonio Buffagnotti | Intaglio

Etching, 250 × 252 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

Title (or dedication-plate) for a series of eleven prints documenting scenery painted by Pietro Abbati after designs by Ferdinando Bibiena, evidently for the premiere of Esione (libretto by Pietro d’ Averara; music by Francesco Ballarotti),⁶⁹ and for a revival of Endimione (libretto by Francesco de Lemene; music by Giovanni Bononcini),⁷⁰ performed in 1699 in the Teatro Regio, Turin. In all known impressions, the print is lettered ‘Carlo Emanvelle Dvca di Savoia | Principe di Piemonte’. The words ‘Carlo Emanvelle’ have been reworked; this could be to correct a (stupendous) mistake by the engraver, Carlo Antono Buffagnotti, or else the plates were issued previously with another dedicatee named in the in legend.⁷¹

The eleven plates comprising the series are (position in our album indicated within brackets): Esione, Act i, scene 1 (‘Piazza con triplicate strade’) [■ 6]; Esione, Act i, scene 13 (‘Mare con scogli’) [■ 28]; Esione, Act ii, scene 2 (‘Stanza con gabinetti’) [■ 35]; Esione, Act ii, scene 8 (‘Giardino su le rive del mare’) [■ 4]; Esione, Act ii, scene 15 (‘Città di Troia assediata, e assalita’) [■ 10]; Esione, Act iii, scene 3 (‘Archi che corrispondono alle prigioni’) [■ 7]; Endimione, Act i, scene 1 (‘Facciata della reggia di Diana con fonti e platani’) [■ 3]; Endimione, Act ii, scene 1 (‘Cortile di Diana corrispondente ad arsenale’) [■ 5]; Endimione, Act ii, scene 2 (‘Piccol boschetto con fonti’) [■ 27]; Endimione, Act iii, scene 1 (‘Bosco con capanna di Silvano’) [■ 9]; Endimione, Act iii, scene 3 (‘Tempio di Diana’) [■ 8].⁷² Abbati’s name appears on each plate, except for the last (‘Tempio’). The prints associated with Esione are lettered in Roman capitals and those associated with Endimione in italics.

The impressions bound in our album are struck on sheets of Bolognese paper of near-uniform dimensions, displaying a watermark of an eight-point star with initials d m l (■ 6, 28, 10, 7, 3, 5, 27, 9), or a gonfalone with initials g r (■ 35, 4), or a gonfalone with inital b (■ 8).

Monteverdi 1975 p.24 no. 7 (the legend wrongly transcribed as ‘Carlo Duca di Savoia’) and Pigozzi 1992 fig. 7 and Pigozzi 2008 figs. 7 and 17 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 460). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1705-1930 (f. 10)

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■ 3

Stage set for Endimione, Act i, scene 1 (‘Facciata della reggia di Diana con fonti e platani’), with a figure standing before the palace of Diana, a two-storey building with circular porch and concave-shaped upper tier crowned with a pediment

Lettered with production details: Inv:r Ferdinando Bibiena Arch:o Del:o | Pietro Gioani Abati Fece

Etching, 250 × 255 mm (platemark), 427 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Mancini, Muraro & Povoledo 1965 pp.92–93 nos. 43 and 45; Monteverdi 1975 p.42 no. 68 Tav. 24 and Monteverdi 1976 p.607 no. 62 Tav. 1084 and Lenzi & Bentini 2000 pp.240–241 no. 14b and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 14 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 778). London, British Museum, 1949,1008.268 (trimmed: 248 × 245 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1751-1930 (f. 56); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 40 (250 × 255 mm; image)

Image

■ 4

Stage set for Esione, Act ii, scene 8 (‘Giardino su le rive del mare’), with a figure standing in a formal garden lined with fountains on the right

Lettered with production details: Inv.r: Fer:o Galli Bibieni Archit:o del:o | Pietro Gio:n Abbati fece

Etching, 262 × 258 mm (platemark), 430 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Ricci 1915 pl. 21; Matteucci 1980 p.165 no. 235 fig. 202 and Pigozzi 1992 fig. 8 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2543). London, British Museum 1949,1008.267 (trimmed: 248 × 240 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1744-1930 (f. 49); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 2910 (trimmed: 238 × 241 mm; image)

Image

■ 5

Stage set for Endimione, Act ii, scene 1 (‘Cortile di Diana corrispondente ad arsenale’)

Lettered with production details: Inv. Ferdinādo Bibiena: Arch:o del:o | Pietro Gioani Abati fece

Etching, 255 × 255 mm (platemark), 435 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Pigozzi 1992 fig. 10 and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 11 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 444). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1748-1930 (f. 53); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23965 (image)

Image

■ 6

Stage set for Esione, Act i, scene 1 (‘Piazza con triplicate strade’), with on the left a two-storey palace, each level punctuated by double columns; beyond, to the right, a monumental gate

Lettered with production details: Inu:o Ferd:o Galli Bibieni Archit:o del:o | Pietro Gio:ni Abbati fece

Etching, 262 × 257 mm (platemark), 430 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star (pierced), with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Muraro & Povoledo 1970 p.115 no. 164 (from Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FC22843 f. 10; production line not shown in reproduction); Pigozzi 1992 fig. 11 and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 8 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 780). London, British Museum 1949,1008.266 (trimmed: 252 × 249 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1745-1930 (f. 50)

Image

■ 7

Stage set for Esione, Act iii, scene 3 (‘Archi che corrispondono alle prigioni’), with a vaulted interior and hanging lamp

Lettered with production details: Arch:o Ferdinando Bibiena Inv: Del:o | Pietro Gioani Abati fec:t

Etching, 262 × 268 mm (platemark), 435 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Mayor 1945 pl. 5 (from New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926.44 /2); Muraro & Povoledo 1970 p.104 no. 140 (from Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FC22843, f. 11); Monteverdi 1975 pp.44–45 no. 73 Tav. 27 and Monteverdi 1976 p.607 no. 67 Tav. 1087 and Matteucci 1980 p.164 no. 231 fig. 203 and Pigozzi 1992 fig. 9 and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 10 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 443). London, British Museum 1949,1008.269 (256 × 258 mm; image unavailable); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1747-1930 (f. 52)

Image

■ 8

Stage set for Endimione, Act iii, scene 3 (‘Tempio di Diana’)

Lettered: Tempio

Etching, 267 × 268 mm (platemark), 435 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Matteucci 1980 p.166 no. 237 fig. 204 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 441). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1730-1930 (f. 35); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23961 (image)

Image

■ 9

Stage set for Endimione, Act iii, scene 1 (‘Capanna di Silvano con Amore in una gabbia’), with stone building with thatched roof, and at centre a man in a cage hanging from a beam

Lettered with production details: Inu:r Ferd:o Bibiena Arch:o | Pietro Gio: Abati Fece: C:o B.o Inc.o

Etching, 255 × 258 mm (platemark), 435 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Associated drawings are in Munich, Graphische Sammlung, vol. 432 III, 35343, f. 78v (270 × 192 mm, reproduced by Muraro & Povoledo 1970 p.111 no. 156; and by Pigozzi 1992 fig. 19); Munich, Graphische Sammlung, vol. 432 I, 35295 (187 × 210 mm, reproduced by Muraro & Povoledo 1970 pp.111–112 no. 157).

Muraro & Povoledo 1970 pp.109–110 no. 155 (from Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FC22843); Mancini, Muraro & Povoledo 1975 p.92 nos. 43 and 45; Monteverdi 1975 pp.40–41 no. 65 Tav. 23 and Matteucci 1980 p.165 no. 233 fig. 204 and Lenzi & Bentini 2000 pp.241–242 no. 14c and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 15 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 777). London, British Museum 1949,1008.262 (trimmed: 248 × 244 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1752-1930 (f. 57)

Image

■ 10

Stage set for Esione, Act ii, scene 15 (‘Città di Troia assediata, e assalita’), with siege engines either side of Troy

Lettered with production details: Ar:o Ferdinando Bibiena inv:r Del:o | Pietro Gioani Abati Fece

Etching, 264 × 252 mm (platemark), 435 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Mayor 1945 pl. 4; Mancini, Muraro & Povoledo 1975 nos. 43–44; Monteverdi 1975 p.44 no. 72 Tav. 26 and Monteverdi 1976 p.607 no. 66 Tav. 1086 and Matteucci 1980 p.164 fig. 199 and Lenzi & Bentini 2000 pp.240–241 no. 14a and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 13 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2469); Pollak & Baines 2000 p.165 (pl. 23; from Washington, dc, National Gallery of Art, 1985.61.393). London, British Museum 1949,1008.263 (258 × 245 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1749-1930 (f. 54)

Image

■ 11

Design for a stage set: a vaulted room with walls punctuated by columns, pilasters, and statues supported by brackets, the centre figure holding a cornucopia

Lettered with production details (in reverse): F:o B.o Inv C.o B.i scu

Etching, 255 × 188 mm (platemark), 445 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, moro

Monteverdi 1975 p.24 no. 11 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 5 (not reproduced; from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 456); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1729-1930 (f. 34)

Image

■ 12

Design for a stage set: interior of a palace, with three sets of steps leading into other rooms, a balustraded gallery

No lettering

Etching, 255 × 187 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, moro

Monteverdi 1975 p.25 no. 14 fig. 6 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 8 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 459). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1724-1930 (f. 29)

Image

■ 13

Design for a stage set, with two figures wandering in the vaulted room of a palace, pairs of columns on the left, and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling

Lettered with production detail: Ferdinado Bibiena inv. Carlo Buffagnotti | int.o

Etching, 250 × 184 mm (platemark), 442 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, moro

London, British Museum 1949,1008.272 (trimmed: 248 × 180 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1728-1930 (f. 33); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 455

Image

■ 14

Design for a stage set: interior of a palace, with on the left two statues in wall niches, and on the right a flight of steps, under a vaulted ceiling

Lettered with production detail: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv: Carlo Bvffagnotti Int:o

Etching, 255 × 195 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, moro

London, British Museum 1949,1008.265 (trimmed: 252 × 187 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1725-1930 (f. 30) and 29781:1 (258 × 191 mm; image); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 458; Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 2908 (256 × 192 mm; image)

Image

■ 15

Two designs: above, a balustraded garden colonnade, with three statues standing in niches above fountain basins (project for the gardens of the Rocca Meli Lupi di Soragna); below, design for a stage set: outer courtyard of a palace, a church tower visible in the distance

No lettering

Etching, 260 × 265 mm (platemark), 435 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

A drawing associated with the set of a palace courtyard is in New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1880.3.582 (223 × 275 mm; image; Mayor 1945 pl. 10).

Ricci 1915 pl. 15 (lower design); Lenzi 1991 p.106 and Cirillo 2007 pp.65–66 no. 5 (upper design; from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 448). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1723-1930 (f. 28); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23962 (260 × 263 mm; image); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 2913 (258 × 263 mm; image)

Image

■ 16

Design for a stage set: a vaulted room with walls punctuated by columns, pilasters, and statues supported by brackets

Lettered with production detail: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv: Carlo Buffagnotti Int

Etching, 250 × 185 mm (platemark), 430 × 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, moro

Monteverdi 1975 p.24 no. 9 fig. 5 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 3 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 457); Horak 2008 fig. 5 (from Piacenza, Fondazione Horak). London, British Museum 1949,1008.264 (trimmed: 247 × 180 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1726-1930 (f. 31)

Image

■ 17

Design for a stage set: the outer courtyard of a monumental palace, with two figures and a flag-bearer in the foreground; on the right a triumphal arch, on the left a flight of steps leading to the palace and another group of figures

No lettering

Etching, 187 × 263 mm (platemark), c. 290 × 435 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

London, British Museum 1949,1008.270 (trimmed: 187 × 260 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1732-1930 (f. 37); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 446; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23963 (186 × 263; image)

Image

■ 18

Design for a stage set: outer courtyard of a palace, with a fountain on the right, a broken column lying in the centre

No lettering

Etching, 188 × 262 mm (platemark), c. 300 × 430 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

Monteverdi 1975 p.46 no. 74 Tav. 28 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2720). London, British Museum 1949,1008.271 (trimmed: 187 × 260 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1731-1930 (f. 36)

Image

■ 19

Design for a stage set: a monumental room featuring (left) three seated figures in wall niches, supporting globes on which sit putti holding symbols of the zodiac

Lettered with production detail: Inv: Ferdinando Bibiena Arch Del:o | Pietro Gioani Abati Fece

Etching, 362 × 258 mm (platemark), 508 × 365 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio. Waterstained

London, British Museum 1949,1008.281 (trimmed: 355 × 248 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1701-1930 (f. 6); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 771; Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 2912 (357 × 252 mm; image)

Image

■ 20

Two designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets: on the left, half of a monumental gate; on the right, the façade of a building, with a curved balcony in centre

No lettering

Etching, 290 × 450 mm (platemark), c. 365 × 510 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio. Waterstained

Lenzi 1991 p.101 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 447). London, British Museum 1949,1008.280 (trimmed: 289 × 444 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1703-1930 (f. 8)

Image

■ 21

Design for theatre decoration, or a stage set: the façade of a building, with at centre an arched opening surmounted by a balcony flanked by columns, a crowned cartouche above

No lettering

Etching, 291 × 456 mm (platemark), c. 355 × 510 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio. Waterstained

Lenzi 1991 p.102 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 449). London, British Museum 1949,1008.279 (trimmed: 284 × 448 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1704-1930 (f. 9)

Image

■ 22

Façade of a building punctuated by rectangular openings surmounted by a frieze of blank cartouches, three courses of stone work shown below (project for the decoration of a wall of the Collegio dei Nobili, Parma)

No lettering

Etching, 230 × 483 mm (platemark), c. 360 × 505 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio. Waterstained

The designs shown on prints ■ 22, 23, 55 are associated with Ferdinando Bibiena’s participation in redecoration of the refettorio and salone of the Collegio dei Nobili in Parma. They are presented anonymously, as models for decoration, not as documents of that project.

Lenzi 1991 p.98 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 450); Lenzi & Bentini 2000 p.39 (impression not located). London, British Museum, 1949,1008.278 (trimmed: 226 × 472 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1698-1930 (f. 3)

Image

■ 23

Façade of a building pierced by two arched openings, with a balustrade connecting two curved balconies (project for the decoration of the east façade of the Collegio dei Nobili, Parma)

No lettering

Etching 295 × 475 mm (platemark), c. 365 × 508 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio

An associated drawing is Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale dei Disegni e delle Stampe, FN432 [10457] (295 × 520 mm; image).¹

Muraro & Povoledo 1970 p.15 (from Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FC22843 f. 17); Lenzi & Bentini 2000 p.39 (impression not located); Lenzi 1991 p.99 and Cirillo 2007 p.128 no. 39 and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 2 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 452). London, British Museum 1949,1008.277 (trimmed: 289 × 469 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1702-1930 (f. 7); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23975

Image

■ 24

Design for a stage set: a monumental, galleried space leading into gardens

[Caption:] Disegno del novo teatro aperto nell’anno 1703. nell’ Accademia dell’ Ill.s.mi SS.ri Ardenti al Porto diretta dalli RR PP. | Somaschi | Inventione, e pittura del celebre Sig: Francesco Bibiena Bolognese [Signed:] Carlo Antonio Buffagnotti Int.o

Etching, 395 × 315 mm (platemark), 510 × 370 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio. Tear in fore-margin crossing platemark.

This is only design in the series credited to Ferdinando’s younger brother, Francesco Galli Bibiena (1659–1739). It may represent a setting for Germanico e Sertorio, the work performed for the inauguration of the new theatre during Carnival celebrations in 1703.²

Mayor 1945 pl. 16 (from New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926.44/2); p.35: ‘this etching bears Francesco’s name in a space too long for it’); Rava 1965 p.54 no. 100; Muraro & Povoledo 1970 pp.35–36 no. 42 (from Venice, Museo Correr, Stampe Molin 311); Matteucci 1980 pp.162–163 no. 228 and Monteverdi 1975 p.48 no. 80 Tav. 30 and Monteverdi 1976 p.607 no. 2395 Tav. 1088 and Lenzi & Bentini 2000 pp.244–245 no. 17 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2422). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1697-1930 (f. 2); Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 26.44 (2) (image)

Image

■ 25

Design for a stage set: a monumental gallery, the left wall punctuated by seven sets of steps ascending between pairs of columns, the pediment in the open courtyard beyond ornamented by five statues

Lettered with production details: Inv: Ferdinando Bibiena Arch:o Del:o | Pietro Abati Fece

Etching, 364 × 260 mm (platemark), 510 × 365 mm (sheet). Watermark: m c within a circle, trifoglio. Waterstained

An associated drawing is Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, 34343b, 87r (Pigozzi 1992 p.645 and fig. 20).

Monteverdi 1975 p.47 no. 77 Tav. 29 and Monteverdi 1976 p.607 no. 71 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 770). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1700-1930 (f. 5); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 37 (363 × 257 mm; image)

Image

■ 26

Design for a stage set: six figures wandering along a curved road; on the left, a high wall built with pairs of Solomonic columns; and on the right, a wall incorporating statues in niches

No lettering

Etching, 360 × 500 mm (platemark), c. 370 × 514 mm (sheet). Watermark: (illegible initials) within a circle, trifoglio. Vertical fold

Mayor 1945 pl. 9 (from New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926.44/2). London, British Museum 1949,1008.276 (trimmed: 355 × 492 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1758-1930 (f. 63); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2546

Image

■ 27

Stage set for Endimione, Act ii, scene 2 and Act iii, scene 2 (‘Piccol boschetto con fonti’)

Lettered with production details: Inv: Ferdinando Bibiena Arch: Del:o | Pietro Gioani Abati Fec

Etching, 275 × 268 mm (platemark), 432 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star (pierced), with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Associated drawings: Munich, Graphische Sammlung, 432 VI, 35343, f. 51v (327 × 212 mm, reproduced by Muraro & Povoledo 1970 p.113 no. 159, and by Pigozzi 1992 fig. 18); Munich, Graphische Sammlung, vol. 132 VI, 35343, f.43v (193 × 250 mm, reproduced by Muraro & Povoledo 1970 p.114 no. 160); Munich, Graphische Sammlung, 432 VI, 35343, f.65v (254 × 270 mm, reproduced by Muraro & Povoledo 1970 p.114 no. 161).

Muraro & Povoledo 1970 pp.112–113 no. 158 (from Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, 50 H 23: 72858); Monteverdi 1975 pp.42–43 no. 69 Tav. 25 and Monteverdi 1976 p.607 no. 63 Tav. 1085 and Pigozzi 1992 fig. 17 and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 12 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 779). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1750-1930 (f. 55); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 39 (270 × 266 mm; image)

Image

■ 28

Stage set for Esione, Act i, scene 13 (‘Marina con scoglio e villagio’)

Lettered with production details: Inv:r Ferdinando Bibiena Arch:o Del:o | Pietro Gioani Abati Fece

Etching, 255 × 255 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Rava 1965 p.51 no. 91; Mancini, Muraro & Povoledo 1975 pp.92–93 nos. 43–44; Matteucci 1980 p.165 no. 234 fig. 201 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2507). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1746-1930 (f. 51)

Image

■ 29

Stage set for La pace tra Tolomeo e Seleuco, Act iii, final scene (‘Atrio Regio tendato con loggie intorno e scale che portano nel palazzo Regio della Pace in macchina’)

[Lettered, within a cartouche:] Piazza del Pallazzo Reale con Sontuoso Apparecchio | di Publica Festa Per La Pace Stabilita Fra Tolomeo e Seleuco [with a scale, expressed in] Brazze

Etching, on two joined sheets, 485 × 615 mm (platemarks), 510 × 695 mm (sheets). Watermark (in each sheet): m c within a circle, trifoglio. Tear in left margin, touching platemark; short tear in lower margin along fold; light foxing in margins.

The spectacle La pace tra Tolomeo, e Seleuco (libretto by Adriano Morselli; music by Carlo Francesco Pollarolo and Bernardo Sabadini) premiered in the Nuovo Teatro Ducale di Piacenza in 1691.³

Ricci 1915 pl. 17; Mayor 1945 pl. 8 (from New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926.44/2); Muraro & Povoledo 1970 pp.34–35 no. 41 (from Rome, Biblioteca di archeologia e storia dell’arte, Rari 714); Monteverdi 1975 pp.36–37 no.52 fig. 18 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 46 Tav. 1082 and Pigozzi 1992 pp.643–644 fig. 12 and Lenzi & Bentini 2000 p.236 no. 11 (from Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2550 or coll. scen. 2728). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1767-1930 (f. 72); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 24930 (485 × 611 mm, watermark: ‘le lettere “ m c” entro cerchio sormontato da trifoglio’; catalogue entry)

Image

■ 30

Design for a stage set: a figure walking toward two monumental arches which lead to a balustraded terrace, and a garden behind

No lettering

Etching, on two joined sheets, 680 × 425 mm (platemarks), 715 × 510 mm (sheets, deckle edges). Watermark (in each sheet): m c within a circle, trifoglio

Ricci 1915 pl. 19. London, British Museum 1949,1008.275 (trimmed: 670 × 418 mm; no image available); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1761-1930 (f. 66); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2403

Image

■ 31

Design for a stage set: garden courtyard of a palace, at centre two men bowing before each other under a monumental arch, with a fountain to their right; beyond, another arch opening to the façade of a building

No lettering

Etching, on two joined sheets, 680 × 450 mm (platemarks), 715 × 520 mm (sheets). Watermark (in each sheet): m c within a circle, trifoglio. Tear in right margin, touching platemark. Waterstained.

Ricci 1915 pl. 18; Lenzi 1991 p.105 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala). London, British Museum 1949,1008.274 (trimmed: 675 × 442 mm; no image available); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1764-1930 (f. 69)

Image

■ 32

Design for theatre decoration, or a stage set: interior of a palace, a short flight of balustraded steps leading to two doors framed by columns and trophies, a series of blank escutcheons above

No lettering

Etching, on two joined sheets, 680 × 430 mm (platemarks), 705 × 510 mm (sheets). Watermark (in each sheet): m c within a circle, trifoglio. Tear in right margin; creased near centre fold.

Ricci 1915 pl. 20; Monteverdi 1975 p.37 no.55 Tav. 19 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 49 Tav. 1083 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2705). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1763-1930 (f. 68)

Image

■ 33

Design for a stage set: exterior of a monumental palace, the entrance (centre-left) framed by pairs of columns and surmounted by a crowned escutcheon, a balcony above with a balustrade supporting two flowering urns, two more urns placed on the pediment

No lettering

Etching, on two joined sheets, 685 × 500 mm (platemarks), 725 × 520 mm (sheets). Watermark (in each sheet): g b within a circle, trifoglio.Two tears crossing platemark; vertical crease; old vertical fold with repair made prior to binding; waterstained, spotted.

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1760-1930 (f. 65)

■ 34

[‘34’ is passed over in the manuscript numeration of the prints]

Image

■ 35

Stage set for Esione, Act ii, scene 2 (‘Stanza con gabinetti’)

Lettered with production details: Inu: Ferd:o Bibiena Arch:o | Pietro Gioani Abati fece: C: B: Int:o

Etching, 252 × 260 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

The print is in the series Disegni delle Scene, che seruano alle due opere chi si rappresentano l’anno corente nel Reggio Teatro di Torino (twelve prints, including title).

Ricci 1915 pl. 1; Mancini, Muraro & Povoledo 1975 pp.92–93 nos. 43–44; Matteucci 1980 p.164 no. 229 and Pigozzi 2008 fig. 9 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 445); In forma di festa: apparatori, decoratori, scenografi, impresari in Reggio Emilia dal 1600 al 1857, catalogue of an exhibition, Teatro municipale Romolo Valli, Reggio Emilia, November-December 1985, edited by Marinella Pigozzi (Bologna 1985), p.40 no. 11 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 445). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1706-1930 (f. 11); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23960 (252 × 257mm; image)

Image

■ 36

Design for a catafalque, or stage set: above the casket an elaborate baldachin supported by four Solomonic columns, illuminated by four chandeliers

No lettering

Etching, 340 × 252 mm (platemark), 445 × c. 200 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

London, British Museum 1949,1008.297 (trimmed 340 × 220 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1727-1930 (f. 32)

Image

■ 37

Design for a catafalque for Ranuccio ii Farnese in Fidenza, 1695: the baldachin, raised by eight columns, supports allegorical sculptures (at left,‘Justice’); the standard hanging above the bier displays Ranuccio’s insignia

Lettered with production details: fer:do Bibie. Inventore | Pietro Abbati intalio e dipense

Etching, 485 × 285 mm (platemark), 522 × c. 380 mm (sheet). Watermark: g b | l within a circle, trifoglio. Short tear in lower margin.

Monteverdi 1975 p.40 no. 64 Tav. 22 and Pigozzi 1992 fig. 13 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 405); Cirillo 2007 p.29 fig. 9 and Horak 2008 fig. 7 (from Parma, Biblioteca Palatina). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1753-1930 (f. 58); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FC72857 (image); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 38 (trimmed: 488 × 279 mm; image)

Image

■ 38

Design for a catafalque for Ranuccio ii Farnese (in Busseto, or Fiorenzuola), 1695: the baldachin raised by columns ornamented by fleur de lys, various female allegorical figures (top left, ‘Justice; bottom right, ‘Mourning’)

No lettering

Etching, on two joined sheets, 800 × 520 mm (sheets, platemarks indistinct). Watermark (in each sheet): g b | l within a circle, trifoglio. Short tears in in right sheet edge; light foxing.

Monteverdi 1975 p.38 no. 61 Tav. 20 and Pigozzi 1992 fig. 14 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 404). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1759-1930 (f. 64)

Image

■ 39

Individual representations of architectural features: a capital, and two window frames, each with alternative suggestions for its embellishment (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

No lettering

Etching, 265 × 265 mm (platemark), 445 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

The designs shown on the sixteen prints ■ 39–54 are of asymmetrical cartouches, window surrounds, capitals, cornices, friezes, volutes, and other architectural ornament. They were etched by Buffagnotti on matrices of similar sizes and here are struck on sheets of Bolognese paper of near-uniform dimensions, displaying watermarks of an eight-point star with initials d m l (■ 41, 42, 47, 48, 52, 53), or a gonfalone with initials g r (■ 39, 40, 51), or a gonfalone with initial b (■ 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 54). Ferdinando Bibiena is identified as ‘inventore’ on thirteen of the plates. It is possible that Buffagnotti was reproducing designs from a sketchbook, such as the one formerly in the Houthakker collection,⁴ or in Rome, Biblioteca dell’Istituto di Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte, Ms. 119.⁵

Cirillo 2007 p.147 notes the presence in ■ 39 of the ‘giglio farnesiano’, but does not concur with ‘taluni critici’ who associate several of these sixteen prints (‘senza un serio fondamento’) with construction detailsin palaces in Parma and the Palazzo Ducale at Colorno (cf. Carlo Mambriani, ‘I Bibiena nei ducati farnesiani di Parma e Piacenza’ in Lenzi & Bentini 2000 pp.102–103).

Cirillo 2007 pp.146–147 no. 47 (from Parma, Biblioteca Palatina). London, British Museum 1949,1008.286; trimmed: 260 × 248 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1711-1930 (f. 16); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 417; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23984 (261 × 266 mm; image)

Image

■ 40

Individual representations of architectural features: a cornice adorned with stylized foliage, and below two ornate window frames, each with alternative suggestions for its embellishment (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando Bibiena In:r | Carlo Bvffagnotti

Etching, 270 × 275 mm (platemark), 445 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b. Tear in margin (repaired at an early date).

London, British Museum 1949,1008.287 (trimmed: 260 × 231 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1709-1930 (f. 14); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 421; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23987

Image

■ 41

Individual representations of architectural features: a Corinthian capital, and below two ornate window frames, each with alternative suggestions for its embellishment (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r Carlo Bvffagn | notti Int:o

Etching, 265 × 265 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

London, British Museum 1949,1008.285 (trimmed: 262 × 231 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1708-1930 (f. 13); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 416; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23985 (263 × 261 mm; image)

Image

■ 42

Individual representations of architectural features: two ornate window frames, each with alternative suggestions for its embellishment (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r | Carlo Buffagnotti: Int:o

Etching, 268 × 270 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

London, British Museum 1949,1008.289 (262 × 230 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1707-1930 (f. 12); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 419; Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 2911 (269 × 270 mm; image); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23991 (266 × 269 mm; image)

Image

■ 43

Individual representations of architectural features: two ornate window frames, each with alternative suggestions for its embellishment (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

No lettering

Etching, 273 × 275 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b

London, British Museum 1949,1008.288 (trimmed: 265 × 254 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1710-1930 (f. 15); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 420; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23988 (267 × 271 mm; image)

Image

■ 44

Individual representations of architectural features: two pediments; a blank cartouche, showing two suggestions for ornamentation; and a window surround, with a vase of flowers on the sill (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando Bibiena. Inv: Carlo Buffagnotti. Inv:

Etching, 270 × 274 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b

An associated drawing is in Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, 35343b, 126 (Pigozzi 1992 fig. 21).

Monteverdi 1975 no. 25 and Pigozzi 1992 p.645 (not reproduced; Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 413). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1714-1930 (f. 19); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 2909 (270 × 272 mm; image); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23990 (267 × 270 mm; image)

Image

■ 45

Blank, oval escutcheon flanked by two pilasters, and surmounted by a smaller escutcheon and a coronet (with a scale); on the right, the same design shown in profile (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

No lettering

Etching, 273 × 270 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b

London, British Museum 1949,1008.283 (trimmed: 264 × 213 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1712-1930 (f. 17); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 424; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23986 (269 × 270 mm; image)

Image

■ 46

Individual representations of architectural features: a Corinthian capital, and fragment of a cornice with acanthus scrolls (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando Bibiena: Inv:r Carlo Buffagnotti: In:o

Etching, 270 × 272 mm (platemark), 444 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b. Tear in margin crossing platemark (early repair).

London, British Museum 1949,1008.291 (262 × 260 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1722-1930 (f. 27); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 410; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23981 (265 × 269 mm; image)

Image

■ 47

Individual representations of architectural features: corner of a palace room seen from below, a Corinthian capital, and a detail from a cornice adorned with acanthus scrolls (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando | Bibiena Inv: | Carlo Buffagnotti Int

Etching, 265 × 270 mm (platemark), 435 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star (pierced), with initials d m | l

London, British Museum 1949,1008.284 (trimmed: 263 × 248 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1719-1930 (f. 24); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 409; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23980 (265 × 266 mm; image)

Image

■ 48

Individual representations of architectural features: a cartouche, foliate scroll, and details of cornices decorated with stylized foliage and fruit (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r | Carlo Buffagnotti Int:o

Etching, 265 × 270 mm (platemark), 440 × c.300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

Monteverdi 1975 p.34 no.38 fig. 16 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 411). London, British Museum 1949,1008.293 (trimmed: 262 × 250 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1720-1930 (f. 25); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23983 (263 × 265 mm; image)

Image

■ 49

Individual representations of architectural features: capital of an Ionic column; corner of a frieze with acanthus leaves intertwined with a wreath and a basket of fruit, a swag of fruit suspended below; and a bracket (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinādo Bibiena Inv: | Carlo Buffagnotti: Int:o

Etching, 265 × 270 mm (platemark), 430 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b

London, British Museum 1949,1008.290 (trimmed: 258 × 251 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1721-1930 (f. 26) and 29781:5 (cut: 246 × 244 mm; image); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 412; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23982 (261 × 265 mm; image)

Image

■ 50

Individual representations of architectural features: a blank cartouche, showing two alternatives for its ornamentation; two cornice fragments (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production details: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r Carlo Buffagnotti in

Etching, 270 × 270 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b

London, British Museum 1949,1008.295 (263 × 241 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1716-1930 (f. 21); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 422; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23992 (264 × 267 mm; image)

Image

■ 51

Individual representations of architectural features: three alternatives for the ornamentation of a cartouche with acanthus leaves and fruit (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production detail: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r Carlo Buffagnotti Int:o

Etching, 260 × 265 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1717-1930 (f. 22); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 683; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23978 (257 × 260 mm; image)

Image

■ 52

Individual representations of architectural features: three alternatives for the ornamentation of a cartouche, one of which is whole (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production detail: Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r Carlo Buffagnotti It:o

Etching, 265 × 268 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star (pierced), with initials d m | l

London, British Museum 1949,1008.296 (trimmed: 260 × 237 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1715-1930 (f. 20) and 29781:4 (cut: 242 × 236 mm; image); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 423; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23989 (262 × 266 mm; image)

Image

■ 53

Individual representations of architectural features: consoles composed of volutes adorned with acanthus leaves (on the left and at the bottom); half of a cartouche (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production detail: Ferdinādo Bibiena Inv:r | Carlo Buffagnotti: Int.o

Etching, 265 × 265 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

London, British Museum 1949,1008.294 (trimmed 258 × 246 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1718-1930 (f. 23); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23979 (264 × 264 mm; image)

Image

■ 54

Individual representations of architectural features: a Solomonic column supporting an elaborate entablature, with a balustraded palace hall beyond; a cornice and a detail of a door or window frame ornamented with foliage (designs for theatre decoration, or stage sets?)

Lettered with production detail: Ferdinando Bibiena In. Carlo Buffagnotti Int:o

Etching, 268 × 270 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, b

London, British Museum 1949,1008.292 (trimmed: 260 × 215 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.17136-1930 (f. 18); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 414; Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23969 (265 × 267; image)

Image

■ 55

Façade of a two-storey building, on ground level an arched gate flanked by statues and opening onto a courtyard where a fountain stands; on floor above, an arched opening with a curved balcony, also flanked by statues (project for the north façade of the Collegio dei Nobili, Parma)

No lettering

Etching, 265 × 270 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: eight-point star with initials d m | l

Cirillo & Godi 1989 fig. 10 (from Biblioteca Palatina, Parma); Cirillo 2007 pp.102–103 no. 19 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. Scen. 451). London, British Museum 1949,1008.282 (trimmed: 205 × 191 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1733-1930 (f. 38); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, FN23971 (274 × 265 mm; image)

Image

■ 56

Design for the decoration of a wall or ceiling: two arched pediment-alcoves, with alternatives for their ornamentation, seen from below; in the alcove on the right, a bust in a roundel and a putto

No lettering

Etching, 200 × 312 mm (platemark), c. 300 × 440 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1742-1930 (f. 47); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 415

Image

■ 57

Design for the decoration of a ceiling: detail of the cornice of a dome, seen from below; with two putti supporting a blank escutcheon (the one on the left holds a branch)

No lettering

Etching, 200 × 192 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1743-1930 (f. 48); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 425

Image

■ 58

Design for the decoration of a wall and ceiling, using the techniques of quadratura: angle of the cornice, with two arched alcoves, and two blank, asymmetrical escutcheons; two openings at the top

Lettered with production detail (in separate openings in the ceiling): Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r | Carlo Buffagnotti Int:o

Etching, 190 × 257 mm (platemark), c. 300 × 440 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, moro

Ricci 1915 pl. 30. London, British Museum 1949,1008.303 (trimmed: 185 × 251 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1734-1930 (f. 39) and 29781:6 (191 × 258 mm; image); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 673; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2012.136.153 (183 × 250 mm; image)

Image

■ 59

Design for the decoration of a wall and ceiling, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palatial interior, with balustrades along two sides, coffered arches supported by columns, and frescoed ceiling

Lettered with production detail (in opening upper left): Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r | Carlo Buffagnotti Intl:o

Etching, 190 × 365 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

Monteverdi 1975 p.31 no. 23 fig. 12 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 17 Tav. 1078 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 431). London, British Museum 1949,1008.304 (trimmed: 186 × 357 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1740-1930 (f. 45)

Image

■ 60

Design for the decoration of a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: a corner with opposite, curved balconies flanked by columns; opening in the top right corner

Lettered with production detail (in opening upper right): F.o Bib.a Inve Carlo Buff.ti Scl. Lettered on escutcheon (at left): Al Signore divino Bibiena

Etching, 194 × 255 mm (platemark), 440 × c. 300 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

Ricci 1915 pl. 25; Monteverdi 1975 p.29 no. 21 fig. 10 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 15 Tav. 1076 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 432). London, British Museum 1949,1008.298 (trimmed: 190 × 250 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1741-1930 (f. 46) and 29848E/3 (191 × 258 mm; image); Vienna, MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, KI 3747 F-143 S-13 Z-1 (image)

Image

■ 61

Design for the decoration of a wall and ceiling, using the techniques of quadratura: angle of a cornice in a palatial interior, with arched alcoves, escutcheons (one displaying a standing figure), scrolls, and swags of fruit; two openings at the top

No lettering

Etching, 192 × 255 mm (platemark), c. 300 × 440 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, g r

Ricci 1915 pl. 27. London, British Museum 1949,1008.300 (trimmed: 190 × 248 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1739-1930 (f. 44) and 29976:6(trimmed: 187 × 250 mm; image); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 674

Image

■ 62

Design for the spandrels of a dome, seen from below; and for a cornice with seven blank escutcheons, by Agostino Mitelli (1609–1660)

Lettered with production detail: Agostino Mitelli Inu: Pin:t

Etching, 335 × 435 mm (trimmed, inlaid to album sheet c. 370 × 500 mm. Watermark: head in profile, within a circle. Ink inscription in an early hand on verso: 46 p[iedi] | 24 de cav. | [– ?]. Short tear along vertical fold.

London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1699-1930 (f. 4)

Image

■ 63

Design for the decoration of a wall and ceiling, or a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace, with a balcony along one side (five balusters) and in the angle a vase elevated upon a heavily-scrolled pedestal; opening upper left

No lettering

Etching, 190 × 255 mm (platemark), c. 300 × 440 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: gonfalone, moro

Ricci 1915 pl. 28; Monteverdi 1975 p.27 no. 19 fig. 8 and Pigozzi 1992 fig. 22 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. Scen. 434). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1738-1930 (f. 43)

Image

■ 64

Design for decoration of a wall and ceiling, or a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace, with coffered arches beneath the pediment, and in the cornice above four arched alcoves separated by blank escutcheons; four vases stand on the top of the cornice

No lettering

Etching (on joined sheets), 485 × 540 mm (platemarks), 515 × 705 mm (sheets). Watermark (in each sheet): m c within a circle, trifoglio. Light foxing in margins.

London, British Museum 1949,1008.308 (trimmed: 514 × 440 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1766-1930 (f. 71); Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 439

Image

■ 65

Design for the decoration of a wall with four arched window-alcoves, by Angelo Michele Colonna (1604–1687)

Lettered (in centre opening): Michele Colona Pinx.t

Etching, 195 × 510 mm (platemark), 435 × 600 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: g b | l within a circle, trifoglio.

Mayor 1945 p.35 no.16: ‘Another etching in Varie opere is designated Michele Colona pinx.’; Pollak & Baines 2000 p.163 (lettering read as ‘Michele Co[fonici] Pinx.’). London, British Museum 1949,1008.302 (right half only, trimmed: 200 × 261 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1756-1930 (f. 61)

Image

■ 66

Design for decoration of a wall and ceiling, or a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace, with two curved balconies in the angle, and baskets of fruit upon their balustrades; on the lower balcony is an escutcheon filled by two figures

No lettering

Etching, 190 × 255 mm (platemark), 310 × 440 mm (sheet, deckle edges). On binder’s guard. Watermark: gonfalone, g r

Ricci 1915 pl. 26; Mayor 1945 pl. 2; Monteverdi 1975 p.26 no. 18 fig. 7 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 618). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1737-1930 (f. 42)

Image

■ 67

Design for decoration of a wall and ceiling, or a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace, with opposite, curved balconies flanked by columns, above one a large blank escutcheon; vases of flowers stand on the balustrade-pediment; in the opening, a banner lettered with production details

Lettered with production details: Ferdinādo Bibiena Inv:.r | Carlo Buffagnotti: Int.o

Etching, 188 × 258 mm (platemark), 310 × 455 mm (sheet, deckle edges). On binder’s guard. Watermark: gonfalone, moro

Monteverdi 1975 p.30 no. 22 fig. 11 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 16 Tav. 1077 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 430). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-P-2007-467 (image); London, British Museum 1949,1008.299 (trimmed: 185 × 253 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1735-1930 (f. 40) and 29781:3 (188 × 257 mm; image)

Image

■ 68

Design for decoration of a wall and ceiling, or a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace, in the angle window-alcoves flanked by columns supporting a pediment; opening upper left

Lettered with production detail (in the opening): Ferdinando Bibiena Inv:r Carlo Buffagnotti Int:o

Etching, 192 × 255 mm (platemark), 310 × 440 mm (sheet, deckle edges). On binder’s guard. Watermark: gonfalone, g r

A related drawing is in New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Elisha Whittelsey Collction, 1952.570.1 (image).

Ricci 1915 pl. 29; Monteverdi 1975 p.28 no. 20 fig. 9 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 433). Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-P-2007-468 (image); London, British Museum 1949,1008.301 (trimmed: 192 × 251 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1736-1930 (f. 41) and 2978:2 (trimmed: 193 × 254 mm; image); Vienna, MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst, KI 3747 F-143 S-13 Z-2 (image)

Image

■ 69

Design for decoration of a wall and ceiling, or a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace, in the angle a balcony with six vases on the balustrade; another vase, and asymmetrical cartouche, at bottom right; opening upper left

No lettering

Etching, 285 × 488 mm (platemark), 435 × 595 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: g b | l within a circle, trifoglio. Tear in lower margin to platemark; creased near centre fold.

Ricci 1915 pl. 31; Monteverdi 1975 p.33 no 26 Tav. 15 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 20 Tav. 1081 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2563). London, British Museum 1949,1008.305 (trimmed: 484 × 243 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1757-1930 (f. 62); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 2933 (trimmed: 267 × 488 mm, sheet 278 × 495 mm; image); Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, Fondo Nazionale, FN23974 (284 × 486 mm; image)

Image

■ 70

Design for decoration of a wall using the techniques of quadratura: a palace interior with a balustraded balcony adorned by a crowned escutcheon, flanking columns support a cornice; on the left, a military trophy

No lettering

Etching, 310 × 530 mm (platemark), 435 × 625 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: g b | l within a circle, trifoglio

Monteverdi 1975 p.32 no.24 fig 13 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 19 Tav. 1080 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 429). London, British Museum 1949,1008.310 (trimmed: 300 × 528 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1755-1930 (f. 60)

Image

■ 71

Design for decoration of a wall using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace interior, with opposite, balustraded balconies flanked by columns

No lettering

Etching, 570 × 310 mm (platemark), 435 × 600 mm (sheet, deckle edges). Watermark: g b | l within a circle, trifoglio

Monteverdi 1975 p.32 no.25 fig. 14 and Monteverdi 1976 p.606 no. 18 Tav. 1079 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 438). London, British Museum 1949,1008.309 (trimmed: 562 × 296 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1754-1930 (f. 59)

Image

■ 72

Design for decoration of a wall and ceiling, or a courtyard, using the techniques of quadratura: corner of a palace, with an elaborate cornice with columns and pilasters in the lower section, and a monumental vase in the angle

No lettering

Etching, on two joined sheets, 445 × 655 mm (platemarks), 505 × 695 mm (sheets). Watermark (in each sheet): m c within a circle, trifoglio. Creaed near centre fold.

Ricci 1915 pl. 72; Monteverdi 1974 pp.38–39 no. 62 Tav. 21 and Matteucci 1980 p.20 no. 9 fig. 6 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 428). London, British Museum 1949,1008.306 (trimmed 440 × 648 mm; image not available). London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1765-1930 (f. 70); Reggio Emilia, Biblioteca Panizza, Gabinetto delle stampe ‘Angelo Davoli’, Inv. 24931 (451 × 657 mm; watermark: ‘le lettere “m c” entro cerchio sormontato da trifoglio’; catalogue entry)

Image

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Design for decoration of a wall using the techniques of quadratura: a palace interior, with a statue placed on a pedestal of military trophies, and two arched openings above

No lettering

Etching, on two joined sheets, 575 × 475 mm (platemarks), 705 × 510 mm (sheets, deckle edges). Watermark (in each sheet): m c within a circle, trifoglio. Light spotting in margins.

Matteucci 1980 p.20 no. 9 fig. 6 (from Milan, Museo teatrale alla Scala, coll. scen. 2536). London, British Museum 1949,1008.307 (trimmed: 567 × 470 mm; image); London, Victoria & Albert Museum, E.1762-1930 (f. 67)