Image not available
Eugene Berman
1899-1972
Design for 'La Forza del Destino' (The Power of Fate)
1952
11 3/4 x 8 11/16 inches (298 x 221 mm)
Watercolor with black ink on laid paper.
2009.35
The Joseph F. McCrindle Collection.
Notes
La Forza del Destino is Giuseppe Verdi's (1813-1901) panoramic tragedy of honor and vengeance set in eighteenth-century Spain and Italy. The opera was first performed at the Imperial Italian Theatre in St. Petersburg on 10 November 1862. For a 1952 production at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Eugene Berman was commissioned to design both the sets and costumes. The opera premiered on 10 November 1952, on opening night of the Metropolitan Opera's 1952-53 season. The complete Berman production was performed in nine seasons between 1952-53 and 1971-72. The costumes were destroyed in a 1973 warehouse fire. In this sheet, Berman depicts an elaborate, exotic costume for one of the Italian soldiers appearing in Act II.
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed at bottom left, in pen and black ink, "E.B. 19 w 52"; at top center, in pen and black ink, "La Forza del Destino"; at bottom right, in pen and black ink, "Act II Italian Soldiers".
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
Catalog link
Department