A courtyard scena per angolo (scene viewed at an angle) could suggest an expansive palace without depicting the entire structure. The repetition of a few groups of columns prompts the viewer to imagine dozens more, just out of view. Even in the relatively small scale of a drawing, the immersive monumentality is palpable. The drawing is unusual in that it shows alternate schemes, one with and one without a proscenium arch framing the view.
Recto in brown ink: "Ferdinando Bibiena / fecit a Milano 1720"; verso in graphite: "Ferdinando Bibiena / fecit a Milano 1720".
Fisher, Jules, owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Architecture, Theater, and Fantasy: Bibena Drawings from the Jules Fisher Collection", 2021. Exh. cat., no. 6, repr.