[S. Barber] F. Zeffirelli. Stage set design for the Met production of "Antony and Cleopatra", 1966, signed

[Samuel Barber] Franco Zeffirelli

Stage set design for the 1966 New York Metropolitan Opera House production of Antony and Cleopatra

executed in gouache and gold paint on canvas, overall size 70.9 x 89.8cm, framed, SIGNED AND DATED BY THE ARTIST ("Zeffirelli / '66"), manuscript caption ("Franco Zeffirelli / Antony & Cleopatra / N.Y. Met 67 / Set Design / Act 1 / Scene 3") to Wright Hepburn Gallery label on back of frame, no place, 1966

This monumental painting well typifies Zeffirelli's creative ambitions for the stage sets, for which the form central to the overall design was the pyramid, a focal point amid a "geometric fusion of metal, plastic, and wood, [coloured] steel, white, and crystal blue" (Heyman).

For more of Zeffirelli's designs for this production, see lots 6 and 8; for a set design for Mozart's Don Giovanni, see lot 54. See also lots 290-291 in the following afternoon sale, Books and Manuscripts, Medieval to Modern (closing 13 December 2022).

LITERATURE

For an account of the production, see Barbara B. Heyman, Barber: the Composer and his Music (2020), passim