Dynastic Pride in the Farnese Theatre at Parma

The teatro Farnese in Parma, though finished in 1618, is arranged according to ideas about courtly theatres that were developed over the sixteenth century. It is what was called in Italian an apparato or sometimes a macchina: an impressive architectonic construction richly decorated with meaningful paintings and statues, which was built for a special occasion, and designed for broadcasting its patron’s status and magnificence to foreign guests and local notables. Unlike most ephemeral structures, this theatre was not demolished after use, perhaps because the occasion for which it was intended never took place. Instead, it survived as an allegorical museum of Farnese history and can be interpreted as a dual mirror of princes; on the one hand it presented a collection of examples of virtues and skills to be imitated