Pietro Gonzaga

Pietro di Gottardo Gonzaga (contemporary ; ; 25 March 1751 – ) was an Italian theatre set designer who worked in Italy and, since 1792, in the Russian Empire.

A vedutist, master of chiaroscuro art and trompe-l'œil optical illusions, Gonzaga was primarily known for his fantastic yet deceptively realistic stage sets, and summarized the theory and purpose of his art as "music for the eyes" : "a perspective that changes in relation to variations in musical expression." According to Ferrero, Gonzaga was the first to promote scenic design into an art "in its own right" and shake off the derided image of mere decoration devoid of art. With age he lost confidence in his profession and aspired, in vain, to become a practicing architect.

Career in Italy

Gonzaga was born in Longarone, Italy. He trained in Venice from 1769 to 1772 under Giuseppe Moretti and Antonio Visentini.

In 1779 Gonzaga debuted as solo stage designer in Teatro alla Scala production of ballets by Giuseppe Canziani and Sebastiano Gallet, and stayed with this theatre until the 1792 season. Subsequently, he produced over sixty sets in Milan, Genoa, Rome and Venice.

Gonzaga's Italian works, along with Galliari family legacy, were published in Milan in three installments between 1803 and 1821.

Gonzaga's life changed after meeting prince Nikolay Yusupov, personal envoy of Catherine II of Russia to Italian states, who was based in Turin during 1784–1789.

Career in Russia

Gonzaga surprised Saint Petersburg audience by novel use of optical illusions and bold chiaroscuro that supported them (dim, diffused light of oil lamps of the period washed out subtle tones and called for radical, contrasting blacks and whites). Contrary to recommendation of Alexander Cozens, he sketched his drafts in lampblack, not black ink.

Gonzaga dominated the art department of imperial theatres for over thirty years, surviving three monarchs: Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I.

Gonzaga summarized his experience and theory of theatrical presentation and illusion in a series of books printed in Saint Petersburg in French language, notably the 1807 Information a mon chef and 1800 La musique des yeux et l'optique theatrale (English: Music for the Eyes). Gonzaga claimed that optical illusions are not abstract theories but correspond to "things that are easily perceived when one looks with a certain degree of attention", thus the stage set should be designed as a "perceived reality to be grasped with attention in all changing aspects". the National Gallery of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago

Arkhangelskoye Estate museum stocks the original stage curtain painted by Gonzaga and four complete original stage backdrops out of sixteen he produced for Yusupov's private theatre. The museum intends to make life-sized copies for public display, as the originals are too fragile. Elektronny Arhiv, a Russian company that digitized this artwork, claimed to have built the world's largest scanner specifically for this job

Designs based on drawings by Gonzaga and Angelo Toselli were used to decorate the concrete walls of the private Museum for Architectural Drawing in Berlin (architects Sergei Tchoban and Sergey Kuznetsov, 2013).