Sceniche Decorazioni, Inventate ed Eseguite

The magnificent collection of the stage sets of La Scala theatre in Milan by Alessandro Sanquirico (1777-1849), and the supplement with 8 plates showing the set design and costumes for the 1827 La Scala production of Giovanni Pacini's opera L'ultimo giorno di Pompei.

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.

A definitive collation does not exist since each copy varies in the number of plates and their subject. There was no single publication date and different copies terminate at different years preceding Sanquirico's own retirement in 1832.

Two works in one, landscape folio (39.5 x 47.5 cm); manuscript title, 1 tinted aquatint plate, 8 fine hand-coloured aquatint plates, the odd spot to margins; manuscript title, 66 hand-coloured aquatint plates, very occasional spot to margins, otherwise clean internally; contemporary straight-grained red morocco panelled gilt with Greek key rolls, thin serrated and solid fillets, the outer frame punctuated with neo-classical shields, smooth spine gilt with double-gilt rules separating the spine into 8 compartments infilled with 6-pointed stars, a fine example.

Bobins V, 1513; Nagler XIV, p267; Ricci, La scenografia italiana II, 23.