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ALESSANDRO SANQUIRICO (Milan 1777 - 1849) ANTIQUE FORUM (Stage design for 'L'ultimo giorno di Pompei', opera by Giovanni Pacini, performed at La Scala, Milan, 1827)
Gouache, 75 x 93 mm. From a series of small gouaches by Sanquirico of his most famous stage designs. For another one from the same series see the sale catalogue Dietrich Schneider-Henn, München, 11 May 1992, 'Biedermeier und Romantik, Bilder aus einem gräflichen Album, ca. 1820-1850, Teil II', lot 176. My warmest thanks to Marino Palleschi, who identified the subject of this work.

Alessandro Sanquirico was an architect, a stage designer and a painter. He was a pupil of Paolo Landriani. Sanquirico was the sole designer and chief scenic artist at La Scala, the Milanese theater, from from 1817 to 1832. He is known for his inventive use of perspective on painted backdrops, and innovative special effects involving lighting and mechanical devices. He renewed the theatre's concept of productions by adjusting them to the new romantic tendency. Sanquirico also worked for the Austrian court and for the Milanese aristocracy. As an architect he executed the interiors of La Scala, and, with Appiani and Bargigli, he designed l'Arena, a multi-use stadium in Milan, one of the city’s main examples of neoclassical architecture.