Objects

Framed by a box-like stage with a curtain at the top, Pacanowski's watercolour depicts a prospect – a vast panorama of the town. A prospectus in theatre is "an element of decoration, a painting depicting a landscape, buildings, etc., placed in the depth of the stage" (https://sjp.pwn.pl/slowniki/prospekt.html, accessed 8.11.2021). Prospectuses as elements of scenography appeared in the theatre during the Renaissance. They were sometimes divided into two parts, and pulled aside, which made it possible to show a different background, hidden behind the first one. Prospects, often supplemented by full-plastic extensions, are one of the elements of stage design – the plastic organization of the stage, which together with three-dimensional decorations, props, costumes and lighting creates space and background for the action of the drama (Słownik terminologiczny Sztuk Pięknych [Dictionary of Fine Arts Terminology], Warsaw 1996, p. 333).

Renata Piątkowska