Master Art

Drawings by members of the Bibiena family are notoriously difficult to attribute to a specific artist as nearly every work produced by the members of the dynasty share a similar and distinctive style and handling of the pen and ink medium. They also were known to have often collaborated with one another, sometimes on the same sheet, further complicating the process of attribution.

The present sheet is a design for a stage set, an undertaking for which the Bibiena were perhaps most highly regarded. Only a very few of the family’s works as theatrical designers or decorators survive today, since most of their creations were ephemeral by nature. Nevertheless, the variety, magnificence and splendour of the Bibiena dynasty’s stage designs can readily be admired from such elaborate drawings as this. 


Pen and brown ink and grey wash, with double framing lines in brown ink. 
292 x 202 mm. (11 1/2 x 8 in.) [sheet]