Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 144 3rd International Conference on Arts, Design and Contemporary Education (ICADCE 2017) Between Ordine and Capriccio Gothic Architecture in the Theatre of the Enlightenment Anna Korndorf Department of Fine arts and architecture State Institute for Art Studies Moscow, Russia E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract—The perception and rethinking of the “dark said of their links to real architecture in the succeeding years, Middle Ages” in the period of Enlightenment largely determined almost nothing is known of their previous history on the stage. the interpretation of the present, and expectations for the future. That was why the appearance of Gothic images and motifs on the By the middle of the eighteenth century European court theatre stage was not just another phase in the history of art and theatre had developed its own universal iconographic tradition architecture or a fad for the “Gothic taste”, but also a factor of that permitted, in a few strictly controlled instances, the use of political propaganda geared to public opinion and domestic and Gothic imagery and motifs. It might perhaps be curious to look foreign policies. What did the 18th-century theatre-goers and at them in the context of the symbolic function of Gothic taste stage decorators perceive as “Gothic”? How did the “settings”, within the world of real Enlightenment building practice. iconographic tradition and predilections of European playwrights and librettists change over the Age of Enlightenment? The few scholars of theatrical Gothic [1, 2, 3, 4] (if it can The article looks at these and other nuances of Gothic motifs’ truly be distinguished as a separate object of study) have not invasion of the ephemeral architecture of the theatre stage.