Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris 1825 - 1890

This is Eugène Cicéri’s stage set design for the Opéra in Paris, made with pen and brown ink with gray wash on paper. Cicéri, a leading stage designer in 19th-century France, created a design that reflects the romanticization of nature prevalent at the time. As urban centers grew, there was an increasing longing for rural life, seen here with the depiction of a rustic landscape. But I wonder, did this idyllic portrayal reflect the realities of rural life for all? Or was it a romantic escape primarily for the privileged classes who frequented the Opéra? There's a tension here between the natural and the artificial: the rough, painterly strokes contrast sharply with the precise architectural lines, reminding us that this isn't a real landscape, but a constructed one. The scene, with its blend of nature and artifice, provides a backdrop against which stories unfold, reflecting and shaping the audience's perceptions of the world, of nature.