Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni

Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni (born May 2, 1695, Florence [Italy]—died Jan. 19, 1766, Paris, France) was a theatrical designer and architect famous for his Baroque stage sets and for his proto-Neoclassical plan for the facade of the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris (1732).

Born to an Italian mother and a French father, Servandoni is considered a French artist, although his training was in Rome with the painter Giovanni Paolo Pannini and the architect Giuseppe Rossi. After his apprenticeship Servandoni went to Lisbon to design scenery for the theatre. He was also a master of the fête, and he was often commissioned to design fireworks displays and extravagant wedding feasts. He settled in Paris in 1724, working there as both architect and stage designer, and made the French capital his home. His career, however, took him to many of the capitals of Europe, including London (1749) and Vienna (1760).