Angelo Toselli (c. 1765, in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

– 1827?), Italian artist, architect,

scenographer A scenographer or production designer, develops the appearance of a stage design, a TV or movie set, a gaming environment, a trade fair exhibition design or a museum experience exhibition design. The term originated in theater. A scenographer work ...

, and vedutista. In 1816 presumably in Rome he was teaching the art of perspective to

Orest Kiprensky Orest Adamovich Kiprensky (russian: Орест Адамович Кипренский -) was a leading Russian portraitist in the Age of Romanticism. His most familiar work is probably his portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1827), which prompted the ...

who just arrived into Italy at the time. Kiprensky in his letters to Russia asked to take care of his mentor as ''he is a good human being''. While in Rome Toselli created a stage designs for ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an ''opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was base ...

'' by

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

premiered under the title ''Almaviva, o sia L'inutile precauzione'' at the

Teatro Argentina The Teatro Argentina (directly translating to "Theatre Argentina") is an opera house and Theater (structure), theatre located in Largo di Torre Argentina, a square in Rome, Italy. One of the oldest theatres in Rome, it was constructed in 1731 an ...

20 February 1816. In 1816 was invited by the administration of the

Imperial Theatres Imperial Theatres of Russian Empire ( rus, Императорские театры Российской империи) was a theatrical organization financed by the Imperial exchequer and managed by a single directorate headed with a director; was ...

to come to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. He arrived to Russian capital in 1816 or 1817. Worked mostly at the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, literally "Big Theater", p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈatər) is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds ballet and ope ...

creating (alongside with artists Canoppi and Kondratiev) decorations for the ballet productions by

Charles Didelot Charles-Louis Didelot (28 March 1767, Stockholm - 7 November 1837, Kiev) was a French dancer, the creator of the ballet shoes and a choreographer. The son of Charles Didelot, the dance-master of the King of Sweden, he studied dance with his fath ...

, including ''A Hunting Adventure'' (1818), ''Laura and Henry or The Troubadour'' (1819, new scenery for the last act), '' Ken-si and Tao or Beauty and the Beast'' (1819). In 1817-1820 he created his most famous work, '' Panorama of Saint Petersburg'' as seen from

Kunstkamera The Kunstkamera (russian: Кунсткамера) or Kunstkammer (German for "Culture Room" (literally) or "Art Chamber", typically used for a " cabinet of curiosities") is a public museum located on the Universitetskaya Embankment in Saint Pete ...

tower (

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

, 0,51 х 6,56 m., collection of the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

). Intended to be shown as a single unit, later it was cut into 6 separate sheets. In 1991 ''Khudozhnik RSFSR'' published an album with reproductions of this work. His another

panoramic painting Panoramic paintings are massive artworks that reveal a wide, all-encompassing view of a particular subject, often a landscape, military battle, or historical event. They became especially popular in the 19th century in Europe and the United St ...

''Scenography of Jerusalem and the surrounding holy places'' was demonstrated in an enfilade of

Lobanov-Rostovsky Palace Lobanov-Rostovsky Residence or the Lobanov-Rostovsky Palace is a building at 12 Admiralteysky Avenue in Saint Petersburg, Russia, constructed in 1817-1820 for Prince Alexander Yakovlevich Lobanov-Rostovsky. Today, the building houses a luxury h ...

, new-built commercial residence on

Saint Isaac's Square Saint Isaac's Square or Isaakiyevskaya Ploshchad (russian: Исаа́киевская пло́щадь), known as Vorovsky Square (russian: Площадь Воровского) between 1923 and 1944, in Saint Petersburg, Russia is a major city ...

with an entrance fee of 5 roubles.

Pavel Svinyin Pavel Petrovich Svinyin or Svinin (Па́вел Петро́вич Свиньи́н; 19 June 1787 – 21 April 1839) was a prolific Russian writer, painter, and editor known as a "Russian Munchausen" for many exaggerated accounts of his travels. ...

witnessed that ″This spectacle is very much like a theatrical stage, but incomparably more lively″. To achieve that Toselly used

staffage In painting, staffage () are the human and animal figures depicted in a scene, especially a landscape, that are not the primary subject matter of the work. Typically they are small, and there to add an indication of scale and add interest. Before ...

and some other tricks : thus, the image of the

Pool of Siloam The term Pool of Siloam ( ar, بركه سلوان, he, בריכת השילוח, ''Breikhat HaShiloah'') ( gr, Σιλωάμ) refers to a number of Rock-cut architecture, rock-cut pools on the southern slope of the City of David (Silwan), Wadi Hilw ...

was accompanied by sounds of water. Drawings by Angelo Toselli along with drawings by Pietro Gonzaga were used for decoration the concrete walls of the private

Museum for Architectural Drawing The Museum for Architectural Drawing (german: Museum für Architekturzeichnung) is a private museum in Berlin, Germany run by the Tchoban Foundation. It was opened in June 2013. Three to four exhibitions are shown each year, made up of drawings fr ...

in Berlin (arch.

Sergei Tchoban Sergei Tchoban (German: Sergej Tschoban; born 9 October 1962) is a German Architect and artist working in various cities in Europe. He is managing director of the architectural firm TCHOBAN VOSS Architekten and founder of the Tchoban Foundation, wh ...

and Sergey Kuznetsov, 2013).Museum // Architectural Drawing in Form & Function
BerlinArtLink

References

Links

Drawings by Angelo Toselli
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Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the wing of the Smithsonian Inst ...

18th-century Italian painters 19th-century Italian painters Italian scenic designers Artists from Bologna Architects from Bologna Painters from Saint Petersburg Bolshoi Theatre, Saint Petersburg people Ballet designers Italian draughtsmen Panoramic art 1760s births 1820s deaths {{Italy-painter-stub