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INVENTORY OF ITALIAN THEATER PRINTS, ca. 1550-1983
P980004
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Title: Italian theater prints
Date (inclusive): circa 1550-1983
Collection number: P980004
Extent:
21 boxes, 40 flat file folders
ca. 677 items (623 prints, 13 drawings, 23 broadsides, 16 cutouts, 1 pamphlet, 1 score)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1688.
Abstract: The Italian theater prints collection documents the development of stage design, or scenography, the architecture of theaters,
and the iconography of
commedia dell’arte characters and masks.
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Language: Collection material in Italian
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Italian theater prints, ca. 1550-1983, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. P980004.
Acquired in 1998.
The Italian theater prints collection was first processed in 1998 by Rose Lachman. Karen Meyer-Roux completed the processing
of the collection and wrote the present finding aid in 2004.
All of the approximately 4380 secondary sources from the Italian theater collection were separated to the library. In addition,
ca. 1500 rare books, some of which are illustrated with prints, have also been separately housed, processed and cataloged.
A search using the term "Italian Theater Collection" while selecting the index "Provenance" from the pull-down menu in the
Research Library catalog will retrieve a list of these separated materials, in addition to the Italian theater prints collection-level
record and the full records for a number of suites of prints, described more briefly in this finding aid. A search in the
Builder Search pull down menu using the term "Italian Theater Collection" while selecting the index "Provenance" and using
the term "Prints collection" while selecting the index "Title" will retrieve the suites of prints inventoried in this finding
aid that are described more fully in individual records.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Italian theater prints collection forms part of the Italian theater collection, acquired in 1998. It documents the development
of stage design, or scenography, the architecture of theaters, and the iconography of
commedia dell'arte characters and masks.
The collection is comprised of prints and several drawings of sets and architectural plans by Italian Renaissance and Baroque scenographers, such as Bernardo Buontalenti, Giulio Parigi, Giacomo Torelli, Ferdinando Tacca, and members of the Bibiena family. The collection also focuses on a specific theatrical genre: the commedia dell'arte. Commedia dell'arte characters and masks, performances, and roles played by well-known actors are represented. Included are etchings of commedia dell'arte characters by prominent printmakers Jacques Callot, Henri and Nicolas Bonnart, and Charles-Nicolas Cochin. Reproductive prints illustrate the reception of the œuvre of Claude Gillot, Antoine Watteau, and François de Troy. Printed ephemera also shed light on the variety of uses of commedia dell'arte imagery, and its social and historical context.
The collection is comprised of prints and several drawings of sets and architectural plans by Italian Renaissance and Baroque scenographers, such as Bernardo Buontalenti, Giulio Parigi, Giacomo Torelli, Ferdinando Tacca, and members of the Bibiena family. The collection also focuses on a specific theatrical genre: the commedia dell'arte. Commedia dell'arte characters and masks, performances, and roles played by well-known actors are represented. Included are etchings of commedia dell'arte characters by prominent printmakers Jacques Callot, Henri and Nicolas Bonnart, and Charles-Nicolas Cochin. Reproductive prints illustrate the reception of the œuvre of Claude Gillot, Antoine Watteau, and François de Troy. Printed ephemera also shed light on the variety of uses of commedia dell'arte imagery, and its social and historical context.
Arrangement
The prints are organized in eight series:
Series I. Stage and theater design,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1550-ca. 1860
Series II. Festivals,
Date (inclusive): 1570-ca. 1759
Series III. Portraits of actors,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1599-ca. 1900
Series IV. Commedia dell'arte,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1560-ca. 1954
Series V. Playbills,
Date (inclusive): 1805-1983
Series VI. Miscellaneous,
Date (inclusive): ca. 1620-1815
Series VII. Oversize materials, ca. 1685-1983
Andreini, Francesco, ca. 1548-1624
Constantini, Angelo, d. 1729 or 30
Grimaldi, J. S. (Joseph S.), d. 1863
Poisson Raymond, d. 1690
Ristori, Adelaide, 1822-1906
Romagnesi, Marc'Antonio
Toscano, Angelica
Comédie-Italienne (Paris, France)
Teatro della Pergola
Teatro Farnese (Parma, Italy)
Teatro mediceo degli Uffizi (Florence, Italy)
Teatro regio (Parma, Italy)
Théâtre-Italien (Paris, France)
Actors—Portraits
Ballet—Stage-setting and scenery
Commedia dell'arte
Festivals—Italy
Improvisation (Acting)
Opera—Stage-setting and scenery
Opera—17th century
Opera—18th century
Pantomimes
Stage machinery
Theaters—Stage-setting and scenery
Theater—History—16th century
Theater—History—17th century
Theater—History—18th century
Theaters—Designs and plans
Broadsides—Italy—19th century
Cutouts—Germany—18th century
Cutouts—Germany—20th century
Drawings—Italy—19th century
Playbills—Europe—19th century
Prints—France—17th century
Prints—France—18th century
Prints—Italy—16th century
Prints—Italy—17th century
Prints—Italy—18th century
Prints—Italy—19th century
Contributors: Printmakers, Publishers
Bonnart, Henri, 1642-1711
Bonnart, Nicolas, 1637-1718
Callot, Jacques, 1592-1635
Carducci, Alessandro
Carracci, Agostino, 1557-1602
Carter, Frederic, 1885-1967
Cochin, Charles Nicolas, 1688-1754
Della Bella, Stefano, 1610-1664
Huquier, Gabriel, 1695-1772
Jollain, François, 1641-1704
Schenck, Peter, 1660-1718 or 9
Spada, Valerio, 1613-1688
Trouvain, Antoine, 1656-1708
Contributors: Designers, Draftsmen
Bibiena, Ferdinando Galli, 1657-1743
Buontalenti, Bernardo, 1536-1608
Chiavistelli, Jacopo, 1621-1698
Dal Re, Marc'Antonio, 1697-1766
Ferretti, Giovanni Domenico, 1692-1768
Galli Bibiena, Giuseppe, 1696-1757
Galliari, Gaspare, 1761-1823
Gillot, Claude, 1673-1722
Magnani, Girolamo, 1815-1889
Parigi, Alfonso, d. 1656
Parigi, Giulio, 1571-1635
Pasetti, Carlo, fl. 1639-1695
Reiniger, Lotte
Tacca, Ferdinando, 1619-1686
Torelli, Giacomo, 1608-1678
Troy, François, 1645-1730
Vredeman de Vries, Hans, 1527-ca. 1604
Watteau, Antoine, 1684-1721
Xavery, Gerard Jozeph
Abbreviations include: s.l. = sine loco, s.n. = sine nomine, s.d. = sine datum, Im. = image, Pl. = plate mark, Sh. = sheet,
Mt. = mount.
Measurements are in centimeters. For suites of prints, only one, usually the title leaf or the first print, has been measured.
Frequently quoted reference sources include the following:
- Bartsch = Bartsch, Adam von, Le peintre graveur (Vienne : J. V. Degen, 1803-1821)
- Duchartre = Duchartre, Pierre-Louis, La comédie italienne (Paris : Librairie de France, 1925)
- Guardenti = Guardenti, Renzo, Gli Italiani a Parigi : la Comédie Italienne (1660-1697) : storia, pratica scenica, iconografia (Rome : Bulzoni, 1990)
- Hollstein = Hollstein, F. W. H., et al., Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700 (Amsterdam, M. Hertzberger, 1949- )
- Lieure = Lieure, Jules, Jacques Callot (New York : Collectors Editions, 1969)
- Weigert = Inventaire du fonds français: graveurs du XVIIe siècle, par Roger-Armand Weigert et Maxime Préaud (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, 1939- )