Architectural Stage Design With Trophy Monument, Imprisoned Moor And Lions. Fontanesi Circle

Architectural Stage Design with Trophy Monument, Imprisoned Moor and Lions.

Last quarter of the 18th century

Graphite, brown ink, watercolor and white heightening on paper

Circle of Francesco Fontanesi (Reggio Emilia, 1751–1795)

21.1 × 29.3 cm

On the reverse, an old hand has inscribed the name of Francesco Fontanesi (Reggio Emilia, 1751–1795), one of the leading Italian stage designers of his time. While the attribution cannot be accepted with certainty, it finds more than one point of correspondence in the style of the drawing.

The sheet depicts an imaginary city composed of sweeping arcades, porticoes, stairways and terraces receding into the distance. Spatial depth is achieved through a masterly interplay of light and shadow, following the scenographic language of the great Venetian tradition of the eighteenth century, capable of transforming architecture into a compelling illusion of perspective.

At the centre of the composition stands a monument adorned with military trophies, featuring an imprisoned Moor that recalls the famous Monument of the Four Moors in Livorno, flanked by two lions of almost Egyptian character, reflecting the taste for the exotic that marked the artistic culture of the late eighteenth century.

It is noteworthy that Fontanesi stayed in Livorno in 1790 to design the stage sets for La Morte di Cesare at the Teatro degli Avvalorati. Although the present sheet cannot be connected with that production, this circumstance makes the traditional attribution written on the reverse all the more intriguing.

The composition conveys remarkable theatrical power, where architecture, monuments and echoes of antiquity merge into an imaginary setting conceived to astonish the viewer and transport the audience into the world of stage illusion.