Highly finished and minutely detailed, Interior of a Gallery was meant not for the stage but as an autonomous work for display. Earlier designs with single-point perspective interrupt the eventual convergence of lines by placing a structure in front of the vanishing point. Here, Carlo allows the lines to meet, representing a fantastical, infinite interior within the confines of the image. The artist’s exacting description of the ever-shrinking columns creates an endless and mesmerizing recursion.
Carlo Galli Bibiena (1721–1787)
Interior of a Gallery, ca. 1755–65
Pen and black ink, with gray and brown wash, over black chalk
Thaw Collection; 2017.5