Seven Unknown Drawings by Luigi Manini

Luigi Manini, set designer at the Nacional Theatre of S. Carlos lived in the second half of the 19th century, which was characterized, in the field of aesthetics, by the transition from romanticism to naturalism. This article aims to analyze seven unknown drawings by Luigi Manini, as an expression and illustration of this artistic period. For this, we analyse the three major periods of art exhibition by Hegel in his work Aesthetics. Integrated in this analysis the evolution of artistic expression, with more emphasis, is illustrated the study of ornamentation, its nature, its importance in stylistic participation and, along its journey, the variation between the expression plane and the content plane that the ornament, as a sign, suffered. To conclude this journey, romanticism, used ornamentation as an evocative element of cultural styles and cultures, consistent with the essence of romanticism: a sublime expression. But in its final phase, romanticism evolved into naturalism that manifests, not the differentiated architectural element, but its collective nature. Urbanism is a social response of Architecture. The ornament loses, at this time, its symbolic value, but maintains its expression plan that was developed with an appreciation of its plastic value. It’s the ornate by the ornate that keeps, still, more time in Belle Époque; in Art Nouveau and Art Deco, to disappear completely in Modernism. These drawings, from an affirmation phase of Luigi Manini’s, are integrated at this time, and their analysis will be concluded from the historical conclusion of this article.