 |
| Anonymous Italian artist Stage Design - Garden Architecture ca. 1650-1700 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Anonymous Italian artist Stage Design - Three Side-wings and part of Proscenium Frame ca. 1725 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena Stage Design - Palace Atrium supported by Columns and Pillars ca. 1770 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
Clytemnestra (to her attendant) –
"You there! Yes you – lift up
these offerings for me.
I will offer prayers to this our king
and loosen the fears that hold me now.
Do you hear me, Apollo?
I call you my champion!
But my words are guarded, for I am not among friends.
It wouldn't do to unfold the whole tale
with her standing here.
She has a destroying tongue in her
and she does love
to sow wild stories all over town.
So listen. I'll put it this way,
last night was a night of bad dreams
and ambiguous visions.
If they bode well for me, Lycian king, bring them to pass.
Otherwise, roll them back on my enemies!
And if there are certain people around
plotting to pull me down
from the wealth I enjoy,
do not allow it.
I want everything to go on as it is,
untroubled.
It suits me – this grand palace life
in the midst of my loved ones
and children – at least the ones
who do not bring me hatred and pain.
These are my prayers, Apollo.
Hear them.
Apollo,
grant them.
Gracious to all of us as we petition you.
And for the rest, though I keep silent,
I credit you with knowing it fully.
You are a god.
It goes without saying,
the children of Zeus see all things.
Amen."
– from the Electra of Sophocles, translated by Anne Carson (The Greek Tragedy in New Translations, Oxford University Press, 2001)
 |
| Angelo Toselli Stage Design - Pedestal of a Monument ca. 1800 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Angelo Toselli Stage Design - Underground Vaulted Space with Tombs ca. 1800-1820 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Anonymous Italian artist Stage Design - Palace Staircase ca. 1800-1825 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Anonymous Italian artist Stage Design - Entrance to the Bowels of the Earth ca. 1800-1825 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Antonio Giuseppe Basoli Stage Design - Interior, a Sitting Room ca. 1810 watercolor Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Antonio Giuseppe Basoli Stage Design - Roman Bath ca. 1810-1830 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Anonymous Italian artist Design for Stage Curtain - Parnassus, Apollo, and the Muses ca. 1812 watercolor Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Felice Giani Design for Stage Curtain - Apollo and Marsyas 1800-1801 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Felice Giani Stage Design - Prison Interior ca. 1820 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Luigi Ricci Stage Design - Kitchen ca. 1860 drawing Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |
 |
| Gaëtano Malagodi Stage Design - Cloister at Night 1869 watercolor Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |