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Background for Rossini, The Count Ory

Artist Saul Steinberg (American, 1914–1999)
Title Background for Rossini, The Count Ory
Date 1959
Medium Black and brown ink, crayon, colored pencil, and and watercolor on paper
Dimensions Image: 14 3/8 x 23 in. (36.5 x 58.4 cm)
Sheet: 14 3/8 x 23 in. (36.5 x 58.4 cm)
Framed (Exhibition Frame): 25 1/8 x 31 1/8 x 1 in. (63.8 x 79.1 x 2.5 cm)
Credit Line Gift of The Saul Steinberg Foundation, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 2019.122

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About this Work

In 1959 Steinberg drew the curtain and backdrops for the 1828 comic opera by Gioachino Rossini called “The Count Ory” for the Juilliard Opera Theater in New York. His rendition of the medieval setting, complete with crenellated castle and knights in armor, is humorously portrayed through his use of geometric patterns and bright colors, thus, giving the nineteenth-century opera an updated and modern feel.


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Background for Rossini, The Count Ory | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2019.122