Ignazio Degotti was a celebrated set painter at the Paris Opéra. Born in Turin, he was a pupil of Bernardino and Ignazio Galliari who taught him perspective painting at the Royal Academy of painting and sculpture in Turin. He worked in Piedmont, Rome and Naples as a scenographer specialising in perspective architecture and landscapes. In 1796 he was appointed dessinateur des décorations at the Paris Opéra for the staging of Gluck’s Alceste and he held this position until 1817. Jacques-Louis David enlisted Degotti’s help with his gargantuan depiction of the coronation of Emperor Napoleon (Louvre, inv. no. 3699) with Degotti drawing the architectural elements of the painting. Measuring 10 x 6.2 m, the work showcases Degotti’s talent as a perspectives painter. Degotti even features in the scene, in the upper left balcony, standing behind Madame Mère, and to his right is Jacques-Louis David himself. David made a sketch of Degotti from memory on which he inscribed ‘le célèbre décorateur desgotti [sic] fait de souvenir par David’ (sold Christie’s, Paris, 10 April 2008, lot 131).
G. Cavalli-Björkman, op. cit., p. 140 illustrates a self-portrait miniature by Jacob Axel Gillberg in exactly the same pose, guise and chair as Degotti. It is now in the Royal Academy of Arts, Stockholm.
We are indebted to Chiara Parisio for her help with our research.