Pietro di Gottardo Gonzaga (Pierre Gothard Gonzague in contemporary French sources, Пьетро Гонзага in Russian sources, 25 March 1751 – ) was an Italian theatre
set designer
Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...
who worked in Italy and, since 1792, in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
.
A
vedutist, master of
chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
art and
trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
optical illusion
Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide v ...
s, Gonzaga was primarily known for his fantastic yet deceptively realistic stage sets, and summarized the theory and purpose of his art as ''music for the eyes'' (french: La musique des yeux): "a
perspective that changes in relation to variations in musical expression." According to Ferrero, Gonzaga was the first to promote
scenic design
Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...
into an art "in its own right" and shake off the derided image of mere decoration devoid of art. With age he lost confidence in his profession and aspired, in vain, to become a practicing
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
.
Career in Italy
Gonzaga was born in
Longarone
Longarone is a town and ''comune'' on the banks of the Piave in the province of Belluno, in northeast Italy. It is situated from Belluno.
4,642 people work all together in Longarone, which is 112.62% of the total population, with most actual in ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
He trained in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
from 1769 to 1772 under
Giuseppe Moretti
Giuseppe Moretti (3 February 1857 – February 1935) was an Italian émigré sculptor who became known in the United States for his public monuments in bronze and marble. Notable among his works is ''Vulcan'' in Birmingham, Alabama, which is ...
and
Antonio Visentini
View of Piazza San Marco in Venice, by Antonio Visentini (1742).
Antonio Visentini (21 November 1688 – 26 June 1782) was an Italian architectural designer, painter and engraver, known for his architectural fantasies and ''capricci'', t ...
.
[ He was influenced by the art of ]Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of city views or ...
, Bibiena, Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo ( , ; March 5, 1696 – March 27, 1770), also known as Giambattista (or Gianbattista) Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice who painted in the Rococo style, considered an import ...
but most of all Piranesi
Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...
.[ In 1772 he joined the art firm of the Galliari family.][Korndorf]
In 1779 Gonzaga debuted as solo stage designer in Teatro alla Scala
La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...
production of ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
s by Giuseppe Canziani and Sebastiano Gallet, and stayed with this theatre until the 1792 season. Subsequently, he produced over sixty sets in Milan, Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and Venice.[ His curtain for the ]La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice (, "The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, La Fenice beca ...
theatre became a standard copied by numerous imitators.
Gonzaga's Italian works, along with Galliari family legacy, were published in Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
in three installments between 1803 and 1821.[Ferrero, p. 85]
Gonzaga's life changed after meeting prince Nikolay Yusupov
Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov (russian: Князь Никола́й Бори́сович Юсу́пов; – 15 July 1831) was a Russian nobleman and art collector of the House of Yusupov.
Biography
He was the eldest son of Prince Boris Grig ...
, personal envoy of Catherine II of Russia
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
to Italian states, who was based in Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
during 1784–1789.[ Yusupov returned to Saint Petersburg in 1791 to accept the role of managing entertainment of the imperial court, which placed him at the helm of state theatre companies.][ It is not known reliably whether Gonzaga was invited to Russia by Yusupov or by ]Giacomo Quarenghi
Giacomo Quarenghi (; rus, Джа́комо Кваре́нги, Džákomo Kvaréngi, ˈdʐakəmə kvɐˈrʲenʲɡʲɪ; 20 or 21 September 1744) was an Italian architect who was the foremost and most prolific practitioner of neoclassical architectu ...
, but in 1792 Yusupov, representing the state, and Gonzaga signed a hire contract that made the latter ''chief decorator'' (stage designer) for all performances of the Saint Petersburg state theatre, with an unusually generous pay provision.[ Yusupov remained Gonzaga's patron until their deaths in 1831.][
Gonzaga's line of scenic design at La Scala was continued by his trainee Paolo Landriani.
]
Career in Russia
Gonzaga surprised Saint Petersburg audience by novel use of optical illusion
Within visual perception, an optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused by the visual system and characterized by a visual perception, percept that arguably appears to differ from reality. Illusions come in a wide v ...
s and bold chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
that supported them (dim, diffused light of oil lamp
An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. Th ...
s of the period washed out subtle tones and called for radical, contrasting blacks and whites).[ According to ]Alexander Benois
Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Бенуа́, also spelled Alexander Benois; ,Salmina-Haskell, Larissa. ''Russian Paintings and Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum''. pp. 15, 23-24. Published by ...
, "he painted right on the floor, not like in easel
An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it, at an angle of about 20° to the vertical. In particular, easels are traditionally used by painters to support a painting while they work on it, normally ...
painting, but simply sketching with a thick brush, spreading paint with his foot, and this foot painting under artificial lighting completely enchanted he witnesses" Contrary to recommendation of Alexander Cozens
Alexander Cozens (1717–1786) was a British landscape painter in watercolours, born in Russia, in Saint Petersburg. He taught drawing and wrote treatises on the subject, evolving a method in which imaginative drawings of landscapes could be wor ...
, he sketched his drafts in lampblack
Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...
, not black ink.[Ferrero, p. 84]
Gonzaga dominated the art department of imperial theatres for over thirty years, surviving three monarchs: Catherine II
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...
, Paul I Paul I may refer to:
*Paul of Samosata (200–275), Bishop of Antioch
*Paul I of Constantinople (died c. 350), Archbishop of Constantinople
*Pope Paul I (700–767)
*Paul I Šubić of Bribir (c. 1245–1312), Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia
*Paul ...
and Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
.[ He decorated ]coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
s of Paul (1797), Alexander I (1801) and Nicholas I (1826) while his lifelong benefactor Yusupov administered all three events.[ Gonzaga became a trusted consultant to heiress and later empress Maria Fyodorovna, Golitsyn and ]Yusupov Yusupov (russian: Юсу́пов) or Yusupova (feminine; ) is a Chechens, Chechen, Tatar and Uzbeks, Uzbek surname, which is common in the countries of the former Soviet Union. It may refer to:
*House of Yusupov, royal Russian family, of Tatar desce ...
families and diversified into decorating palace interiors and landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges the space between landscape architecture and garde ...
.[ ]Fyodor Glinka
Fyodor Nikolaevich Glinka ( rus, Фёдор Никола́евич Гли́нка, p=ˈfʲɵdər nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, a=Fyodor Nikolayevich Glinka.ru.vorb.oga; 1786–1880) was a Russian poet and author.
Biography
Glinka was bor ...
described Gonzaga's three-dimensional trompe-l'œil
''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.
Eighteenth-cent ...
in Pavlovsk Park (1815): "What is a reality and what is a dream? ... Convinced at the existence of what was before me, I kept going further and further forward. But suddenly something strange began to happen to my eyes: it was as if an invisible curtain of some sort was descending upon these objects and swallowing them from sight ... At length I began to quarrel with my own eyes and my head began to spin, and I hastened to be gone from this realms of charms and magic!"
Gonzaga summarized his experience and theory of theatrical presentation and illusion in a series of books printed in Saint Petersburg in French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
, notably the 1807 ''Information a mon chef'' and 1800 ''La musique des yeux et l'optique theatrale'' (English: ''Music for the Eyes''). Gonzaga claimed that optical illusions are not abstract theories but correspond to "things that are easily perceived when one looks with a certain degree of attention", thus the stage set should be designed as a "perceived reality to be grasped with attention in all changing aspects".[
As he grew older, Gonzaga gradually became more and more dissatisfied with the work of producing ephemeral follies that rarely lasted longer than a single theatrical season.][ He suffered depression, feeling that his life was spent in vain, and begged his patrons to offer him a chance to prove himself in architecture and leave a tangible trace of his talent.][ He applied to all available vacancies and architectural contests, and was always rejected.][ By 1827, when Emperor Nicholas awarded him an honorary title of ''court architect'', Gonzaga was already too old for practical construction. ]Nestor Kukolnik
Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik (russian: Не́стор Васи́льевич Ку́кольник) (1809–1868) was a Russian playwright and prose writer of Carpatho-Rusyn origin. Immensely popular during the early part of his career, his works wer ...
suggested that earlier, in the 1810s, Gonzaga designed and built Yusupov's private theatre in Arkhangelskoye Estate, but his attribution was later discarded.[
He died in ]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 ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, in 1831.
Works
Graphic works by Gonzaga are preserved in 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 ...
, the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
and the Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
Arkhangelskoye Estate museum stocks the original stage curtain painted by Gonzaga and four complete original stage backdrops out of sixteen he produced for Yusupov's private theatre. The museum intends to make life-sized copies for public display, as the originals are too fragile. Elektronny Arhiv, a Russian company that digitized this artwork, claimed to have built the world's largest scanner specifically for this job
Designs based on drawings by Gonzaga and Angelo Toselli were used to decorate 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 (architects 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
Sources
* Ferrero, Mercedes Vialle (2002). ''Stage and set'', in:
::
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzaga, Pietro
1751 births
1831 deaths
People from the Province of Belluno
18th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
19th-century Italian painters
19th-century Italian male artists
Italian neoclassical painters
Italian scenic designers
Russian scenic designers
Bolshoi Theatre, Saint Petersburg people
18th-century Italian male artists