Giuseppe Galli Bibiena

The calligraphic and precise nature of this drawing and the skillful illusion of space created by the elaborate vaulted architecture is very characteristic of Giuseppe Galli Bibiena's successful years in Vienna. Appointed second theatre architect to the Court on his arrival in the city in 1720, he was promoted to first architect in 1727 and remained in Vienna until 1748. 

Giuseppe's father, Ferdinando Galli Bibiena (1657-1743), was the first member of this extensive family of artists and designers to build theatres and design sets, a specialism which his family subsequently dominated throughout the Courts of Europe for nearly a century.