Project for the Decoration of a Ceiling

Before they became famous as impresarios of theatrical productions, the Bibienas worked as painters in Bologna and Parma. One of their specialties was quadratura, the decoration of walls and ceilings with illusionistic architectural frescoes. A group of related perspective studies by Ferdinando Bibiena was published in 1701 as the Varie opere di prospettiva (Varied works of perspective). Widely emulated, the engravings in that volume gave birth to drawings like this example.