ABSTRACT
In the theatre. perspective scenery at first belonged as illuch to the auditorium as to the stage. Even after the introduction or the proscenillill arch. the scene was treated as an extension of the architectllrc of thc auditorium. and had more or less to conform in scale, style and pcrspective. The audience was apart ofthe spectacle. a conventiot1 that is stillllot quile extinct in thc great opera houses. Palladio' s famous thealre at Vicenza. with its permanent, real architcctural setting. is not lypieal; it is a smalI. roofedin version 01' thc ancient Roman open-air theatre. with its customary live stage doorways. In 1585 Scamoz~i added a novel feature; behind each doorway he arranged astreet vista which is not painted. but built with wood and stucco in diminishing perspective (6.6). Such 'seenery' could only by chance relate to the play. and an aetor could not. of course. venture more than a pace ortwo along a vista without destroyillg the illusion. As the plan shows. although the endmost seats oITer a view along only one of the seven vistas. a plausible etTect is not collfined to the centre. alld from most of the seats at least three vistas are seen.
