Gaspare Vigarani

Gaspare Vigarani (* 1588 in Reggio Emilia ; † September 9, 1663 in Modena ) was an Italian engineer and architect.

Gabriel Perelle , La porte Saint-Antoine , 1671.

He was a theater machinist at the small court of his supporters of the Este family in the Duchy of Modena . He organized entertainment events in the form of tournaments, led funeral parades, built churches, restored walls, constructed entrenchments and designed gardens. In 1640 he redesigned the Carpi theater , in 1651 that of Mantua and in 1654 that of Modena, known as "della Spelta". It was inaugurated with the piece Gli Amori di Alessandro e Rossane , which happened to be Christine of Sweden among the audience. In it she particularly liked a shining palace of the sun. After the performance was over, she went behind the scenes to see the mechanics of the miracle and exclaimed: “Really, I have never seen anything more beautiful and majestic.” In 1659 he set about adding a theater to the Tuileries Palace , the so-called "Salle des Machines" . Vigarani erected triumphal arches for the king's entry into Paris. He carried out the renovation of the porte Saint-Antoine, which was later attributed to Blondel .

For all its indisputable originality, compared to that of the many other top architects among his Italian contemporaries, his work attracts few visitors today. It's easy to forget him, especially since his greatest work, the Tuilerien Theater, no longer exists.

Vigarani came from the nobility and, true to the customs of his mother Lucrezia Facini, the six children he had with his wife Lisbetta Toschi also received a solid education apart from their father's profession. His sons Carlo and Lodovico had accompanied him to Paris in 1659 . The former continued to work for Louis XIV as a stage designer and was considered the "greatest illusionist of the era".

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Louis Hautecoeur: . Le Louvre et les Tuileries de Louis XIV Verlag G. Van Oest, Paris 1927, p.84.
↑ ^a ^b Jérôme de La Gorce: Carlo Vigarani, intendant des plaisirs de Louis XIV , Editions Perrin / Etablissement public du musée et du domaine national de Versailles, 2005, p. 10 f.
^ Karl Möseneder : Ceremonial and monumental poetry. The "Entrée solenelle" of Ludwig XIV. 1660 in Paris , Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1983, p. 88.
↑ Walter Baricchi et al. Jérôme de La Gorce (eds.): Gaspare & Carlo Vigarani. Dalla corte degli Este a quella di Luigi XIV , Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2009, p. 7
↑ Uwe Schultz : The ruler of Versailles. Ludwig XIV and his time , Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, p. 188.

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personal data
SURNAME	Vigarani, Gaspare
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian engineer and architect
DATE OF BIRTH	1588
PLACE OF BIRTH	Reggio Emilia
DATE OF DEATH	September 9, 1663
Place of death	Modena

[Hautecoeur-1] Louis Hautecoeur: . Le Louvre et les Tuileries de Louis XIV Verlag G. Van Oest, Paris 1927, p.84.

[delagorce_05-2] Jérôme de La Gorce: Carlo Vigarani, intendant des plaisirs de Louis XIV , Editions Perrin / Etablissement public du musée et du domaine national de Versailles, 2005, p. 10 f.

[3] Karl Möseneder : Ceremonial and monumental poetry. The "Entrée solenelle" of Ludwig XIV. 1660 in Paris , Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1983, p. 88.

[4] Walter Baricchi et al. Jérôme de La Gorce (eds.): Gaspare & Carlo Vigarani. Dalla corte degli Este a quella di Luigi XIV , Silvana Editoriale, Milan 2009, p. 7

[5] Uwe Schultz : The ruler of Versailles. Ludwig XIV and his time , Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, p. 188.