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The Scenographic Fantasies of Giacomo Quarenghi: Stylistic Migrations from the European to the Russian Stage
The graphic works for the theatre (and more precisely, the scenographic sketches) by Giacomo Quarenghi (1744–1817), a well-known architect from Bergamo whose style embraced neoclassical and Palladian elements and who arrived at the Russian court at the invitation of Catherine II (the Great, r. 1762–96) in 1780, seem to occupy a peripheral place in his busy career as an architect. Nevertheless, his corpus of inventions also includes a considerable number of designs for the theatre. Not only did Quarenghi create actual theatres (the famous theatre inside the Hermitage, 1783–85) but he was also a skilled scenographer. This essay is dedicated to the theatrical designs attributed to Quarenghi and focuses on some threads that run through his legacy of graphic works from the Russian and Italian traditions. These are revisited in the context of interpreting the scenic space and in terms of the theatrical repertoire contemporary to the era. I also aim to retrace some of Quarenghi’s iconographic approaches by placing them within the scenographic discourse of the time. From an interpretative point of view, I consider the readability of some themes in his graphic repertoire regarding theatre in Russia. Finally, I examine Quarenghi’s imagery in terms of the great theatre of architecture and his interior design vision as a graphic artist.
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