03 — ARTWORK
Exterior view
COSTA E SILVA, José da · 1793 →
- MEDIUM
- Photo
- TYPE
- Other
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 1400 × 1082 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Lisbon's new opera house was erected in just six months in 1793 due to the generous donations from the city's merchants. The coherently Neoclassical structure replaced the famous opera house of Giovanni Carlo Bibbiena on the bank of Tejo, which had been destroyed in the earthquake of 1755.
Costa e Silva looked to Italian models. For the exterior he chose the austere but dignified forms of the Scala in Milan - a rusticated ground floor with dramatically projecting porticoUsually open porch supported by columns or pillars on the main entrance side of a buildings. Frequently supports a pediment. - while the interior recalls the opera house in Naples, which also bore the name of San Carlo.
The Teatro de São Carlos signaled the arrival of NeoclassicismA style in European art and architecture from the mid 18th century until the end of the 19th century. Based as it was on the use of ancient Greek and Roman models and motifs, its development was greatly influenced by the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum, and by the theories of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717-1768). Intellectually and politically it was closely linked to the Enlightenment's rejection of the aristocratic frivolity of Rococo, the style of the Ancien Régime. Among Neoclassicism's leading figures were the French painter Jacques-Louis David (1744-1825), the German painter Anton Raffael Mengs (1728-1729), and the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822). as the legitimate architectural style for buildings representing the interests of the middle classes.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r2576a3244de742,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Exterior view by COSTA E SILVA, José da},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/costa-e-silva-jos-da-rdf948abae04c5f/exterior-view-r2576a3244de742},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
OTHER WORKS BY JOSÉ DA COSTA E SILVA
The archive catalogues no further works by this artist.
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