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Italian theater prints
P980004
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Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Italian theater prints
Identifier/Call Number: P980004
Physical Description: 21 box(es)21 boxes, 40 flat file folders ca. 677 items (623 prints, 13 drawings, 23 broadsides, 16 cutouts, 1 pamphlet, 1 score)
Date (inclusive): circa 1550-1983
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.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Italian.
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- )
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 prints are organized in seven series:Series I. Stage and theater design, ca. 1550-ca. 1860Series II. Festivals, 1570-ca.
1759Series III. Portraits of actors, ca. 1599-ca. 1900Series IV. Commedia dell'arte, ca. 1560-ca. 1954Series V. Playbills,
1805-1983Series VI. Miscellaneous, ca. 1620-1815Series VII. Oversize materials, ca. 1685-1983
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.
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.
Acquired in 1998.
Italian theater prints, ca. 1550-1983, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. P980004.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifaP980004
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Subjects and Indexing Terms
Opera -- 17th century
Prints -- Italy -- 16th century
Prints -- Italy -- 17th century
Opera -- Stage-setting and scenery
Prints -- Italy -- 18th century
Improvisation (Acting)
Festivals -- Italy
Commedia dell'arte
Ballet -- Stage-setting and scenery
Actors -- Portraits
Theater -- History -- 18th century
Theaters -- Designs and plans
Prints -- Italy -- 19th century
Broadsides -- Italy -- 19th century
Theater -- History -- 17th century
Cutouts -- Germany -- 18th century
Theater -- History -- 16th century
Cutouts -- Germany -- 20th century
Theaters -- Stage-setting and scenery
Drawings -- Italy -- 19th century
Stage machinery
Playbills -- Europe -- 19th century
Pantomimes
Prints -- France -- 17th century
Opera -- 18th century
Prints -- France -- 18th century
Magnani, Girolamo, 1815-1889
Jollain, François, 1641-1704
Huquier, Gabriel, 1695-1772
Grimaldi, J. S. (Joseph S.), -1863
Poisson, Raymond, -1690
Pasetti, Carlo, active 1639-1695
Parigi, Giulio, 1571-1635
Parigi, Alfonso, -1656
Della Bella, Stefano, 1610-1664
Dal Re, Marc'Antonio, 1697-1766
Costantini, Angelo, -1729 or 1730
Comédie-Italienne (Paris, France)
Gillot, Claude, 1673-1722
Galliari, Gaspare, 1761-1823
Galli Bibiena, Giuseppe, 1696-1757
Ferretti, Giovanni Domenico, 1692-1768
Théâtre-Italien (Paris, France)
Torelli, Giacomo, 1608-1678
Teatro mediceo degli Uffizi (Florence, Italy)
Teatro regio (Parma, Italy)
Troy, François de, 1645-1730
Vredeman de Vries, Hans, 1527-approximately 1604
Toscano, Angelica
Trouvain, Antoine, 1656-1708
Romagnesi, Marc'Antonio
Schenk, Peter, 1661-1711
Reiniger, Lotte
Ristori, Adelaide, 1822-1906
Teatro della Pergola
Teatro Farnese (Parma, Italy)
Spada, Valerio, 1613-1688
Tacca, Ferdinando, 1619-1686
Xavery, Gerard Jozeph
Watteau, Antoine, 1684-1721
Andreini, Francesco, approximately 1548-1624
Bonnart, Henri, 1642-1711
Bibiena, Ferdinando Galli, 1657-1743
Carter, Frederic
Carracci, Agostino, 1557-1602
Cochin, Charles Nicolas, 1688-1754
Chiavistelli, Jacopo, 1621-1698
Buontalenti, Bernardo, 1536-1608
Bonnart, Nicolas, 1637-1718
Carducci, Alessandro
Callot, Jacques, 1592-1635