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Florimène at the Court of Charles I

Understanding a Sectional Drawing

John Webb's section of the stage for Florimène may be confusing, as we are not accustomed to seeing a stage setting sliced through the center from up-stage to down. To help visualize the sectional view, imagine you are sitting in the audience: the frontispiece -- literally a false proscenium, seen in the top right drawing in gray -- frames the wings, borders, backshutters and the relief scene. Now imagine that the stage was sliced in half, from down center to up center, and you moved from your seat in the center of the auditorium to a position backstage on stage left. You are looking from stage left to stage right, seeing just the edges of each part of the setting.