A woman in a chariot arrives at the ruins of a building as the Olympian gods look down from above, in the foreground stands an armed female figure; set design from 'Il Pomo D'Oro'
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (Trimmed): 10 1/4 × 17 1/8 in. (26 × 43.5 cm)
Classification
Prints|Prints-Fete|Ornament & Architecture
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.600.3559
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking etching and engraving captures a dramatic moment from the 1668 opera *Il Pomo d’Oro*, performed in Vienna to celebrate the wedding of Emperor Leopold I. Designed by Ludovico Ottaviano Burnacini and engraved by Mathäus Küsel, the print records an elaborate Baroque stage set featuring a woman arriving in a chariot before ruined architecture, while Olympian gods observe from above and an armed female figure stands guard in the foreground. Such spectacular scenery was central to seventeenth-century court opera, where mythological tales were brought to life through grand machinery and...
About the Artist
Ludovico Ottaviano Burnacini|Mathäus Küsel · 1636–1707
Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini (1636–1707), born into an artistic family in northern Italy—likely Venice—was the son of the renowned theater architect Giovanni Burnacini from Cesena and his wife Grazia. From a young age, he studied under his father, mastering theater architecture, intricate stage machinery, and set design amid Venice's vibrant carnival culture and Commedia dell'arte performances. The ...