Filippo Juvarra

Though the present sheet cannot be associated with certainty to a theatrical production it shows many similarities to the sets Juvarra designed for the scenes of two operas, Teodosio il Giovane and Giunio Bruto, performed in the Roman theatre of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni (1667-1740) in 1711.¹  The numbering upper right testifies that this sheet was most probably once part of an album. 

After gaining fame as a set designer in Naples in the tradition of Ferdinando Bibiena, the Sicilian-born Juvarra moved to Rome in 1706. Two years later he entered the service of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a wealthy, powerful and influential patron of the arts, who resided in the Palazzo della Cancelleria, where construction on an adjoining theatre, the Teatro Ottoboni, had begun in 1689. Juvarra would be employed mainly as an architect when his services were commanded by Victor Amadeus, King of Savoy, and in 1712 he moved to Turin where he was lavishly patronized by the Sardinian monarchy. During his very active career he also visited Portugal, London and Paris.

1. See sale, New York, Sotheby's, 29 January 2020, lots 119-120