After Bartolommeo Neroni, called il Riccio

Exemplifying Renaissance stage design practice, this orderly and symmetrical view of an idealized street recedes toward a single fixed point in the distance. This drawing copies Neroni’s original design for the comedy L’Ortensio, written and staged by the Sienese Accademia degli Intronati in 1561 to celebrate a visit from the city’s new ruler, Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici. The architectural enclosure featuring allegorical figures in niches is the earliest-known depiction of a proscenium arch, the frame through which the audience views the stage. Around 1589, Neroni’s influential design circulated as a woodcut reproduction by Andrea Andreani. The Morgan’s drawing dates from this moment, attesting to the enduring interest in Neroni’s design decades after its conception.