Bibiena’s Brand

Galli Bibiena, Ferdinando (1657-1743).

L’Archittettura civile preparata su la geometria, e ridotta alle prospettive. Considerazioni pratiche di Ferdinando Galli Bibiena cittadino Bolognese Architetto primario... Dissegnate e descritte in cinque parti. La prima contiene la Geometria, e avvertimenti, prima che à fabbricar si pervenga. La seconda. un utile Trattato dell’Architettura civile in generale, e le divisioni di essa molto facilitate. La Terza. La Prospettiva commune, orizontale, e di sotto in sù. La Quarta. Un brieve discorso di Pittura, e la Prospettiva per li Pittori di Figure, colla nuova Prospettiva delle Scene Teatrali vedute per angolo, oltre le praticate da tutti gli altri. La Quinta. La Mecanica, ò arte di movere, reggere, e traspostar pesi. Dedicata Alla Sacra Cattolica Real Maestà di Carlo III. Re delle Spagne, d’Ungheria, Boemia &c. Parma, Paolo Monti, 1711.

Folio (393x272 mm). [20], 156, [2] pages. Complete with the final Errata. On the title-page, woodcut vignette including the double-headed Imperial eagle. Engraved medallion portrait of the author on fol. ☩2v (counted in pagination). Seventy-two unnumbered etched plates (outer margin of two plates slightly trimmed), after and possibly by Bibiena. Woodcut animated and decorated initials; woodcut headpieces, large woodcut tailpieces. Tables in text. Contemporary vellum over pasteboards. Smooth spine, later covered with parchment, with inked title. Covers rather stained, losses to the upper one; corners and board edges rubbed. A good copy. Title-page somewhat toned, two small holes, without any loss. Dusting and spotting throughout. The first five leaves and last eight early mounted on paper strips; pale waterstain to lower blank margin.

Provenance: a certain Giovanni Ferrari (ownership inscription on the upper cover ‘Giouanni Ferrarij 173[1]?’; on both covers, the owner had inked the title of the work, ‘l’architettura di ferdinando bibiena Citadino Bolognese architetto primario capo’ (the title is only partially written on the lower cover).

The first edition – in its first issue and with the plates in first state – of this masterpiece by Ferdinando Galli Bibiena, ‘patriarch’ of a dynasty of artists that dominated Baroque stage and theatre design, building opera houses across Europe, organizing spectacles and festivals at the major courts, and surprising audiences with spectacular imagery. The impressive career of the Bolognese Ferdinando Galli Bibiena began at the service of Ranuccio Farnese II, Duke of Parma and Piacenza. It was in this capacity that he first experimented with one of his most famous inventions in stage design, scena per angolo, or ‘scene viewed at an angle’, which was first used for the set of Didio Giuliano, a drama by Lotto Lotti and Bernardo Sabatini, performed – for Ranuccio’s birthday – at Piacenza in April 1687. In subsequent years he was engaged by the most renowned Italian theaters, and in 1708 was hired in Barcelona to direct the celebrations for the marriage between Archduke of Spain Charles III of Habsburg – the future Emperor Charles VI – and Elisabeth Christine of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Ferdinando was later active, together with his sons Giuseppe and Antonio, at the Viennese court, where he further developed his revolutionary angled perspective.

Aimed at students of art and architecture, L’architettura civile is the first manual to formally introduce the term scena per angolo. In the Fourth Part, and more specifically in the chapter Della prospettiva delle scene, o teatri di nuova invenzione, Ferdinando explains the new technique in great detail, citing its ability to transform the static symmetry of the seventeenth-century stage into dynamic scenery. “Rather than using a single vanishing point along the central axis of the stage, the scena per angolo employed multiple vanishing points along multiple axes. The perspective thus worked for a larger proportion of the audience, rather than just for the principal box, helping to democratize the theatergoing experience” (L. O. Peterson, “Making the Stage: The Bibiena as Draftsmen”, p. 31). Although Ferdinando could have been influenced by the work of Giulio Troili and Andrea Pozzo, the application of this technique to scenography was entirely new, and “as the family disseminated the style across Europe through courtly performances and publications, the technique became virtually synonymous with the name Bibiena” (ibid.).

The copy offered here belongs to the original issue, with the date given as ‘MCDCCXI’, and without the author’s address ‘In Bologna Appresso L’Autore’ added to the imprint. The plates are also in the first state, before the addition of plate numbers.

Berlin Kat. 2628; Cicognara 430; Fowler 134; D. Lenzi – J. Bentini (eds.), I Bibiena una famiglia europea, Venice 2000, no. 111a; L. O. Peterson, “Making the Stage: The Bibiena as Draftsmen”, J. Marciari – L. O. Peterson (eds.), Architecture, Theater, and Fantasy. Bibiena Drawings from the Jules Fisher Collection, New York 2021, pp. 23-49; A. Aronson, “The Theatrical Art of the Galli Bibienas”, ibid., pp. 51-69.