Half Plan and Half Elevation for a Catafalque for Margarita Louisa, Gran Duchess of Tuscany (d. 1721)
ca. 1721
Medium
Pen, brown ink and gray and yellow washes
Dimensions
20-3/8 x 14-1/4 in. (51.8 x 36.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, by exchange, 1972
Accession Number
1972.713.11
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intricate architectural drawing by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena a master of the Bibiena family dynasty renowned for their innovative Baroque stage designs and scenic architecture, depicts a "Half Plan and Half Elevation for a Catafalque" honoring Margarita Luisa, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, who passed away in 1721. Created around that year, the work exemplifies the theatrical grandeur of early 18th-century European funerary art, blending architecture with dramatic illusionism—a hallmark of the Bibienas' style, which influenced opera houses and court spectacles across Italy and beyond. The catafa...
About the Artist
Giuseppe Galli Bibiena
Giuseppe Galli Bibiena was born on January 5, 1696, in Parma, into what would become the most celebrated dynasty of theatrical designers in Baroque Europe. He was the second son of Ferdinando Galli Bibiena, who was himself a transformative figure in stage design and the originator of the family's defining innovation: the scena per angolo, or "scene viewed at an angle." This technique replaced the ...