Opera: Did you mean...?

Esau & Jacob on Lorenzo Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise for the Baptistry, made between 1420 and 1447 with assistance from Lucca della Robbia, Donatello, Michelozzo, Benozzo Gozzoli, Bernardo Cennini, and two of Ghiberti's sons. Museo dell'Opera...

A wooden statue of Mary Magdalene by the Italian Renaissance artist Donatello (c. 1386-1466 CE). (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence)

A 1910 photograph taken by Erik Satie of the French composer Claude Debussy (1962-1918) and, seated, Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). (Bibliothèque de l'Opéra Garnier, Paris)

A 1904 poster advertising the opera Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), the year of its premiere in La Scala, Milan. Designed by Leopoldo Metlicovitz, published by Ricordi.

The Deposition (also known as the Florentine Pieta), a marble sculpture by Michelangelo, 1547-1555. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence. Photo: George Groutas

An 1896 poster advertising the opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), the year of its premiere in Turin. Designed by Adolfo Hohenstein, published by Ricordi.

A c. 1923 photograph showing a public gymnastic show performed during the Italian fascist period by the Sciacca-Agrigento section of the Opera Nazionale Balilla. (Riggio Family Archives)

An 1874 oil on canvas painting, The Dance Class, by Edgar Degas (1834-1917), the French impressionist painter. The expert conducting the class, probably an examination in the Paris Opera, is Jules Perrot (1810-1892). The scene is one that...

Pope Boniface VIII (served 1294-1303 CE). Statue by Arnolfo di Cambio, c. 1298 CE. Museo dell'Opera, Florence.

A 19th-century pastel on paper drawing, Carmen, by Emile Wauters (1846-1933). Carmen is the central character in the novella of that name by Prosper Mérimée (1803-70) and the opera by the French composer Georges Bizet (1838-1875).