Raccolta da Varie Decorazioni Sceniche

A captivating collection of plates depicting sets for productions of plays, operas, and ballets as La Scala theatre in Milan. Each plate contains a title and the production it was intended to accompany.

Alessandro Sanquirico (1777-1849) was the set designer and principle scene painter of La Scala between 1817 and 1832, during which time he established himself as the foremost in his craft and heavily influenced his peers. Many of the sets within this work were created for premiers by the likes of Clerico, Pacini, Vigano, Mosca, Bellini, Rossini, Soliva, Pavesi, Mozart, and Mayerbeer. His designs established and defined the style of nineteenth-century opera, combining neo-classicism with the burgeoning Romantic movement.

An authoritative collation does not exist with each copy varying in the number and content of plates. Most appear to be folio size while this is in the reduced 4to size.

Landscape 4to (21.5 x 28.5 cm); 109 hand-coloured plates heightened with gum arabic, lacking a title page, several of the plates have small closed tears to the lower margin which have been professionally repaired avoiding any loss, a touch of toning to margins otherwise clean throughout; later binding designed to replicate theatrical wallpaper, gilt lettering piece to spine, a little rubbing to boards and spine.

Bobins V, 1513; Nagler XIV, p.267; Ricci, La scenografia italiana II, 23.