Toselli, Angelo

In 1816 he was invited to Russia by the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters . Arrived in St. Petersburg in 1816 (in other sources - in 1817). He served as an artist-decorator in the Imperial Theaters, created the scenery for Didlo's ballet productions at the Bolshoi Theater ^[1] .

In Bologna (Rome?), Toselli took lessons from the perspective of Orest Kiprensky , who arrived in Italy in 1816. Knowing that the artist was going to Russia, he wrote to his homeland: "Caress him, please, he is a good man."

The most famous work of the artist is “ Panorama of St. Petersburg ” ( watercolor , gouache , 0.51 x 6.56 m, State Hermitage Museum ). This large-scale work, carried out from the Kunstkamera tower in 1817-1820, documented the ensemble of the Russian capital that had formed by that time and is now a valuable source for studying the architectural development of the city. It was released as a separate album by the publishing house “ Artist of the RSFSR ” in 1991.

Another Toselli panorama , “The Scenography of Jerusalem and the Holy Places Around It Lies,” was exhibited in the front suite of the Lobanov-Rostovsky house built in 1817-1820 with an entrance fee of 5 rubles. per person. Trying to overtake competitors and attract more public, the artist used various effects for his “cosmorama”: for example, the image of the Jerusalem source Siluan was accompanied by the sounds of bubbling water. Pavel Svinyin wrote about this: "This spectacle is very similar to the theater stage, only incomparably more alive."

Yezhov’s lithographs from Toselli’s architectural drawings were also included in G. Filistri's publication “Genealogical, Chronological and Synchronistic Table of Russian History” (printing house of Alexander Plyushar, St. Petersburg, 1819). The lithograph from the drawing “View of the Kazan Cathedral from Nevsky Prospekt ” was included in the album “Views of St. Petersburg and its environs” (publisher of the Imperial Society for the Promotion of Arts , 1821).

The drawings of Angelo Toselli and the drawings of another Italian who worked in Russia, Pietro di Gonzago , were used to design the concrete facade of the building of the private in Berlin (architects S.E. Choban and S.O. Kuznetsov , 2013).

In the theater

Teatro Argentina , Rome

• February 20, 1816 - The Barber of Seville by Joacchino Rossini (premiere of the opera).

Bolshoi Theater , St. Petersburg

• December 2, 1818 - “Adventure on the Hunt”, ballet in 3 acts, staged by C. Didlo to music by K. Kavos (sets by Tozelli and Kondratiev).
• November 3, 1819 - “Laura and Heinrich, or Troubadour”, a magical and heroic ballet in 3 acts, staged by S. Didlo to the music of K. Kavos (new scenery for the last act, the rest of Kondratyev’s set).
• 1819 - “ Henzi and Tao, or Beauty and the Beast ”, a large Chinese ballet in 4 acts, staged by C. Didlo to music by K. Kavos (sets by Kanoppi, Toselli and Kondratiev).

• Angello Toselli // Curriculum Vitae in the Encyclopedia of St. Petersburg
• Drawings by Angelo Toselli , Collection of the , New York