Temporary Theatres and Andrea Palladio as a Set Designer

Abstract

This paper treats studies on perspective published in sixteenth-century treatises as important sources for understanding Andrea Palladio’s connection with perspective and with the sets and scenic spaces he designed for the stage before the construction of the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza (1580–1585). Written and visual traces of these ephemeral theatres and their sets are extant in the monochrome frescoes on the eastern wall of the Teatro Olimpico’s antiodeo, which represent 1561 and 1562 stagings of the plays Amor costante and Sofonisba. A survey of these frescoes using image-based modeling techniques is a preliminary necessary phase for building rigorous 3D models of Palladio’s illusionistic sets, which are strictly dependent on the harmonic and dimensional ratios that appear in contemporary treatises on perspective. All of these experiences can be considered as models to test that precise idea of Theatre which is revealed in the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza.