#stage sets

Edwin Austin Abbey (American, 1852-1911) • The Queen in Hamlet • 1895 • Pastel on paperboard • Illustration for the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare

Ally with her MV for 500 veces and Camila in the Guess campaign. Same stage sets. Obviously is an usual stage sets but it’s too funny to watch it

Tancrède Engraved by Franz Ertinger (German; 1640–ca. 1710) after Jean Bérain the Younger (French; 1674–1726) 1706 Engraving Published: Recueil général des opéra représentez par l'Academie Royale de Musique (Paris: C. Ballard) The New York Public Library, Dance Collection

This One’s For You ~

… . @illinoisrbml!

Yesterday, @illinoisrbml, the Tumblr blog for the Rare Book & Manuscript Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, made a Halloween post on Edward Gorey’s 1979 publication Dracula: A Toy Theatre, which we reblogged, noting that not only do we hold this publication, but our former Captain Alison came back to guest curate our October mini-show Unforgettably Gorey and made a model of three scenes from the Dracula stage set by photocopying pages from this book and constructing them into 3D sets. We said we might follow up by photographing the installation and posting it on Tumblr. @illinoisrbml responded enthusiastically, so here it is! [sorry for the glare of the glass case].

We’re showing one of the three “silo cases” in The Grind coffee shop housing the show, which includes three scenes from Gorey’s stage designs: Dr. John Seward’s Library; Lucy Westenra’s Boudoir; Dracula’s Crypt/Dungeon. Nice job, Alison! The QR code on the label is a link to our own Tumblr post on this book that we featured in October 2015.

This show comes down this Friday (Nov. 3), so if you’re in town and want to see it, you’ve only got a day and a half left! 

So for all you do, @illinoisrbml, this post’s for you!

By Maggie Bell

The painter and architect Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena was born in Bologna on 18 August 1657.  His father, Giovanni Maria Galli-Bibiena (b. 1625), was an artist who studied under Francesco Albani. Ferdinando studied architecture under Giulio Trogli and painting under Carlo Cignani, who recognized his precocious ability for stage design.  

In the 1680s, on Cignani’s recommendation, Ferdinando entered into the service of Ranuccio II Farnese, 6th Duke of Parma and Piacenza as his chief painter and architect, charged with designing stage sets for large celebrations and court spectacles.  Ferdinando worked in the ducal courts of Parma for thirty years, though in 1708 was summoned to Barcelona to create the wedding decorations for the marriage of the Archduke Charles of Austria.  In 1711 Ferdinando wrote his treatise on architecture L’architettura civile, in which he described the Bolognese innovation in theatrical design known as scene vedute in angolo, in which backdrops and settings are designed according to the rules of perspective. 

Further Reading

"Galli-Bibiena." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed August 17, 2017, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T030524pg1.

Giuseppe Antonio Caccioli, Portrait of Ferdinando Galli Bibiena, frontispiece from his Varie Opere Prospettiva, 1707, etching, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena (1657-1743), Theatrical setting, gray pen and brush over pencil and leadpoint, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena (1657-1743), Theatrical setting, pen and wash, Metropolitan Museum of Art