Made by order of the Minister of Fine Arts for the Foyer of the Paris Opera House. Exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1865.
In closing I would say briefly that for half a century Rossini's genius has shed its radiance over entire Europe, and that that radiance seemed to eclipse everything around him. After having reigned master of the art in his own country for fifteen years, he increased his influence still more by his contact with France, and it was in France, whose temperament, full of taste, eclecticism and reason, he knew so marvellously, that he wrote his most magnificent masterpiece, William Tell, before which all his former works pale, with the exception of The Barber of Seville. If The Barber is the imperishable and prodigious model of opera bouffe, William Tell is the most touching, the most striking dramatic poem which ever flowed from his pen. Either would suffice for his glory, and both assign to him a unique and quite exceptional place in the history of musical art in the nineteenth century.
FRESCO FROM VIENNA OPERA HOUSE
Representing scene from the "Barber of Seville."
VINCENZO BELLINI