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(3) Giuseppe Galli-Bibiena
(b Parma, 5 Jan 1696; d Berlin, 1756). Son of (1) Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena. He was his father’s pupil and assisted him on various projects at the Habsburg court in Vienna. In 1716 he produced his first independent designs, as part of the festive decoration for the birth of the Archduke Leopold of Austria. For a similar occasion the following year he erected a magnificent triumphal decoration of his own (his father had by then left the imperial service). In 1718 he was given a position at court and was subsequently involved in all the major Habsburg celebratory decorations, including those for the marriage of Emperor Joseph’s daughter in Munich (1722). His lavish designs for open-air operatic performances were much admired. In 1727 he officially became chief theatrical designer to the imperial court. His subsequent employment on less secular schemes, such as his superb triumphal arch for the celebration in Prague of the canonization of St John Nepomuk (1729), may have contributed to the theatrical aspect of much German architecture of the period. During the next decade he was again mainly occupied with decorative settings for operas, funerals and celebrations, the most important of which were those for the marriage of Emperor Charles VI’s daughter Maria Theresa to Francis I, Duke of Lorraine (1736). In 1740 he produced his most lasting work, Architetture e prospettive, a book dedicated (like his father’s) to Charles VI. It consists of engravings of fantastic architectural scenes, which, while showing more Neo-classical rigour in architectural detail than Ferdinando’s, far surpass them in variety of combined perspectives, expertly controlled groupings of space and structure and dazzlingly free evocations of endless vistas. Many of them accurately record the extraordinary temporary decorations he provided for religious festivals in the imperial chapel in the Hofburg, Vienna. His stage setting design of a Monumental Hall Supported by Spiral and Square Pilasters (Cleveland, OH, Mus. A.; see fig.) exemplifies the style.
Part of the Galli-Bibiena family
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