SERVANDONI, GIOVANNI NICOLO

born May 2, 1695, Florence died Jan. 19, 1766, Paris, France also called Jean-nicolas Servando, or Servandon theatrical designer and architect famous for his Baroque stage sets and for his proto-Neoclassical plan for the facade of the Church of St.-Sulpice in Paris (1732). Probably born of Italian parents, Servandoni is considered a French artist, although his training was in Rome with the painter Giovan Paolo Panini and the architect Giuseppe Rossi. After his apprenticeship he went to Lisbon to design scenery for the theatre. 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).