Technical drawing of the ceiling of the Teatro Real in Turin

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A renowned French artist witnesses the renovation of the ceiling of Turin's legendary Opera Regio .

1. Technical drawing of the ceiling of the Teatro Real in Turin, by Louis Poyet. A leaf. In French. 38.4 cm x 24.7 cm. Before 1904, in Italy. Good condition, right side slightly deteriorated, but without affecting the drawing or the annotations. Single piece.

2. Watercolor drawing of a firework mechanism, author unknown, probably Louis Poyet. A leaf. 23.4 cm x 19 cm. Supposedly before 1904, Italy. Good condition, with a defective corner and few stains. Single piece.

Original text

"Assemblage de charpente employée so much sur la salle de peinture que sur le parquet de la scène du Théatre Royal de Turin. Dessinée (?) en Italie par Mr Poyet."|"Salle éclairée pour peindre les scènes du Théatre Royal de Turin." 

Portuguese translation

“Structural assembly used both in the painting room and on the stage floor of the Teatro Real in Turin. Designed (?) In Italy, by Mr. Poyet. "|" Illuminated room for painting the scenes of the Royal Theater of Turin.”

The Royal Theater of Turin is a monument with exceptional architecture and decoration, a fundamental building for the history of opera, an art that was born in Italy in the 16th century. Built and inaugurated 40 years before the Teatro Scala, in the year 1740, the Regio would become, from its beginnings, the largest theater in Europe and an international reference in the segment; with famous opera premieres, the room had the capacity to house 2500 privileged spectators.

Louis Poyet was the great specialist in the illustrated representation of machines between 1873 and 1910 and his workshop will have more than forty artisans, all faithful servants of the ideology propagated by the popular magazines of the time: the optimistic belief in the material progress of science, a vision of the world entirely governed by determinism and the most absolute rationality.

About the two plays, Simone Solinas, archivist of Teatro Regio, says:

“The largest is a vertical section of the scenography room, as it was in the old building (1740-1936). The name Poyet is almost certainly Louis Poyet (1846-1913), and the drawings must be before 1904 anyway, because the theater was consistently renovated at the time and the roof structure was replaced with iron beams instead of the old one. wood. The scenography room was placed on the top floor of the building to take advantage of natural light.

I cannot precisely date the small, colorful drawing. It is undoubtedly a fireworks stage machine, and appears to be from the 18th century, when these types of special effects were often put on stage.

The most likely objective of Mr. Poyet was to copy a model for the restoration (or construction) of a (new) theatre. Many engravings of the Teatro Regio were published in the Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert, and because of this it was the most sought-after theater for many decades, and a destination for great excursionists. Poyet feels the need to specify that the design was made in Turin, most likely to ensure fidelity to the original building.” 

Ancient documents related to great historic monuments are rare and highly sought after by the public, as they are usually held by public institutions or by the institution's own archivists. This set also seems interesting to me because it was made by Louis Poyet, a renowned French artist and passionate about engineering and architecture, at a time when the work required great manual precision and talent, since the author did not have the technological resources we have at the moment.