Portrait of the set-designer Paolo Landriani (1755-1839)

Paolo Landriani (1757-1839) depicted here by Andrea Appiani, was an important set designer who trained at the Brera Academy in Milan. He started at La Scala in 1792 with Zingarelli’s Il mercato di Monfregoso, Paisiello’s Il fanatico in berlina and Pitrot’s Adonis and Venus. From 1796 to 1801 he dressed six to eight productions per season. His star began to fade with the arrival of the great set designer of the next wave: Alessandro Sanquirico. Landriani, the set designer and design theorist, is the artist who encapsulates the tastes and aesthetics of early neoclassicism. He was the friend of painter Appiani, hence the reason for this remarkable portrait.