Vivere e morire regalmente nella Sicilia del secondo Settecento. Incisioni di architettura per il palazzo e per i funerali del principe di Biscari a Catania

Abstract

This article presents four engravings that bear witness to the most significant stages of the celebrations organised in Catania for the funeral of the Prince of Biscari, Ignazio Paternò Castello, on 2 September 1786. This graphic corpus constitutes the last opportunity to celebrate the prince’s memory and prominence based on the models established by European courts, but at the same time it reveals more recondite aspects of the research into phenomena of emulation in architecture and self-representation that have not emerged to date from studies on the aristocrat from Catania and that reflect above all the way of life of a cultured personality driven by great ambitions. The aim of the research is to show that, with the probable support of his architect Francesco Battaglia and the engravers Antonio Zacco and Luigi Mayer, the prince selected a number of international engravings as sources for the funeral arrangements that the present study reveals, some of these were likely to be found in his private library, while the same mechanism had been adopted earlier for the design of the orchestra hall and courtyards of the museum of antiquities at his famous residence at the Catania Marina.