Given John Ringling’s great passion for the expressive movement, color, and emotion found in the stage-like settings of Baroque art, it is most apt that the Museum’s first director, A. Everett “Chick” Austin, Jr., should have so dramatically expanded the great showman’s collection by acquiring an 18th-century Italian court theater. Today, as the only original Baroque playhouse in America, the Historic Asolo serves not only as an accompaniment to the founder’s collection of art, but also as a functioning “exhibit-in-use,” providing the ideal setting for a diverse roster of theater, music, dance, film, and lectures.
The theater’s evolution began in the 15th century with Caterina Cornaro, the daughter of a wealthy Venetian merchant, who became – through an arranged marriage – the Queen of Cyprus. For more than a decade, and even after her husband’s death, Queen Caterina held onto the throne of the island kingdom. As a reward for this service to the Venetian Republic, she was granted the beautiful hilltop village of Asolo, Italy, where the exiled queen reigned over a court renowned for its grace and beauty. In 1798, nearly three centuries after Caterina’s death, architect Antonio Locatelli created a diminutive, yet resplendent theater in the great hall of her palace. When, in 1855, Francesco Martignago was selected to redesign the theater, he chose to preserve the u-shaped form of the 18th century, leading scholars to conclude that 19th-century renovation duplicated the original plan for the playhouse. The theater remained in its nascent setting until 1931, when it was dismantled and removed to make way for a modern film theater. German antiquarian Adolph Loewi purchased the ornamental panels and decorative elements and stored the artifact in Venice for the duration of World War II. In 1949, the Ringling Museum, under Chick Austin’s direction, purchased the Asolo Theater for the sum of $8,000 – and thus, the little gem of a theater that had flourished and languished in Italy, was crated and shipped from Venice – first to New Orleans, then to Tampa, and finally by truck to Sarasota. The theater opened in its new American home in 1952, remaining in the Museum of Art until a new building was constructed for it on the Ringling estate. When it reopened in 1958, the performing arts boomed in Sarasota. The theater, once home to great European performers, had become the birthplace for the performing arts in west central Florida. However, by the close of the 20th century, the Historic Asolo was underused and underfunded. It again fell into disrepair.
With the adoption of the Ringling Master Plan in 2000, work was underway to restore the Asolo Theater. The panels were again dismantled, and the Museum’s conservation staff worked painstakingly for over two years to conserve and restore the theater’s ornate beauty. The 2006 reinstallation in the Museum’s Visitors Pavilion adheres to the guidelines set forth in 1964 by the International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments in the Venice Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites: “the aim is to preserve and reveal the aesthetic and historic value – based on respect for original material and authentic documents. It must stop at the point where conjecture begins ... any extra work which is indispensable must be distinct from the architectural composition and must bear a contemporary stamp.” Hence, the structure that envelops the 18th-century artifact, along with the auditorium seating and ambient lighting, are all distinctly of the 21st century.
