Los dibujos del escenógrafo Charles Ciceri (1782-1868)

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DC Field	Value
dc.identifier	ECF_article_14530
dc.title	Los dibujos del escenógrafo Charles Ciceri (1782-1868). El mundo a escena: entre la evocación romántica y la precisión positivista
dc.contributor.author	Muñoz Tomás
dc.publisher	Edizioni Ca’ Foscari - Venice University Press, Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari
dc.type	Research Article
dc.language.iso	es
dc.identifier.uri	http://edizionicafoscari.it/en/edizioni4/riviste/mdccc-1800/2023/1/los-dibujos-del-escenografo-charles-ciceri-1782-18/
dc.description.abstract	Set designers’ drawings have a similar instrumental character to painters’ drawings, but unlike painters’ drawings, set designers’ drawings refer to works that are not exhibited in museums, are not studied by art historians and, for the most part, are not preserved. These circumstances explain the usual reluctance to approach set designers’ drawings. However, these drawings have similar characteristics to those of contemporary painters and can give a very accurate picture of the spirit of an era. This is the case with the drawings of Charles Ciceri (1782‑1868), chief decorator at the Paris Opera and the most important set designer of the first half of the 19th century. His drawings, of unquestionable mastery, represent a wide repertoire of sets imbued with a romantic spirit: ancient ruins, medieval fantasies, orientalist evocations, picturesque natures, etc. The typology of the drawings is also varied: sketches from life, sketches and drawings as inventions for final works (decorations, in the case of Ciceri) and drawings with an autonomous value. The variety of techniques and typologies of Ciceri’s drawings is similar to that of the most important painters of the time, although they have a number of specifically ‘theatrical’ nuances, such as the framing of the scenes, the variety of lighting effects, especially the underlining, and – perhaps most importantly – the arrangement in successive planes. These drawings are an exemplary combination of romantic evocation and positivist precision. It is no coincidence that Ciceri was a student, son-in-law and friend of the Romantic painter Isabey, and that his closest collaborator in his early years was Daguerre, inventor of the diorama and father of photography. At this crossroads of aesthetic and multidisciplinary convergences, Ciceri’s drawings are undoubtedly a significant expression of the drawing art of his time.
dc.relation.ispartof	MDCCC 1800
dc.relation.ispartof	Vol. 12 \| December 2023
dc.issued	2023-12-04
dc.dateAccepted	2023-05-31
dc.dateSubmitted	2023-03-14
dc.identifier.issn
dc.identifier.eissn	2280-8841
dc.rights	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.identifier.doi	10.30687/MDCCC/2280-8841/2023/01/006
dc.peer-review	yes
dc.subject	Drawing
dc.subject	Opera
dc.subject	Romanticism
dc.subject	Scenography
dc.subject	Set design

Research Article
open access peer reviewed

El mundo a escena: entre la evocación romántica y la precisión positivista

Tomás Muñoz Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España

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abstract

Set designers’ drawings have a similar instrumental character to painters’ drawings, but unlike painters’ drawings, set designers’ drawings refer to works that are not exhibited in museums, are not studied by art historians and, for the most part, are not preserved. These circumstances explain the usual reluctance to approach set designers’ drawings. However, these drawings have similar characteristics to those of contemporary painters and can give a very accurate picture of the spirit of an era. This is the case with the drawings of Charles Ciceri (1782‑1868), chief decorator at the Paris Opera and the most important set designer of the first half of the 19th century. His drawings, of unquestionable mastery, represent a wide repertoire of sets imbued with a romantic spirit: ancient ruins, medieval fantasies, orientalist evocations, picturesque natures, etc. The typology of the drawings is also varied: sketches from life, sketches and drawings as inventions for final works (decorations, in the case of Ciceri) and drawings with an autonomous value. The variety of techniques and typologies of Ciceri’s drawings is similar to that of the most important painters of the time, although they have a number of specifically ‘theatrical’ nuances, such as the framing of the scenes, the variety of lighting effects, especially the underlining, and – perhaps most importantly – the arrangement in successive planes. These drawings are an exemplary combination of romantic evocation and positivist precision. It is no coincidence that Ciceri was a student, son-in-law and friend of the Romantic painter Isabey, and that his closest collaborator in his early years was Daguerre, inventor of the diorama and father of photography. At this crossroads of aesthetic and multidisciplinary convergences, Ciceri’s drawings are undoubtedly a significant expression of the drawing art of his time.

Published

Dec. 4, 2023

Accepted

May 31, 2023

Submitted

March 14, 2023

Language

Keywords: Scenography • Set design • Opera • Drawing • Romanticism

permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/MDCCC/2280-8841/2023/01/006

Copyright: © 2023 Tomás Muñoz. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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