The Performing Venue: The Visual Play of Italian Courtly Theatres in the Sixteenth Century

摘要

The protagonists of this article have to be considered as performers – actors, one might say – but they are not living beings. Its subject is the sixteenth-century Italian courtly theatres of Rome, Florence, Sabbioneta, and Parma, together with the visual effect their often very elaborate decoration schemes have on their viewers. It is about the agency of things, not persons. The performances that took place in these venues, though important, are left out.