Born in Modena. Nationality Italian. His father, an engineer of the Duke of Modena, known in his time various hydraulic structures in Italy, gave his son a good education, and sent him the ability to study mathematical Sciences and the building arts, and the young Canopy, having from nature a propensity to drawing, were particularly inclined to fine arts and even then its alfresco decorated the palaces of many Italian nobles.
One of the last representatives of the Italian school in the European theatres of the classical period. Studied with the sculptor Canova. Started working as a decorator in Milan to La Fenice theatre. After the invasion of Napoleon in Italy, Canopy fled to Russia (1805). At first he worked in Moscow, in 1812, lived in St. Petersburg, became the main decorator of the Imperial theatres. Canopy belonged to making many musical and drama productions, including the operas "Semiramis," "Firebird," "Revenge, or the Triumph of Cupid", etc. and Architectural perspective and landscape of the picturesque scenery and curtains, Canopy, made in the classical style, close to the works of art of Quarenghi and Gonzaga. Departing from traditional depictions of mythological subjects, Canopy frequently reproduced in the scenery of the landscapes and buildings of St. Petersburg (resumed after a fire in 1818 the St. Petersburg Bolshoi theatre was decorated with view of the Narva triumphal gate). According to contemporaries, Canopy widely used lighting effects, transferring them by means of painting (reflections of the fire, the game of moonlight, etc.). Romantic trends clearly affect the scenery, Canopy to the last act of the melodrama Ducange "Thirty years, or Life of the player", where the artist has depicted the miserable hut, through the dilapidated ceiling and in the window which pours bright light.
In 1813 recognized by the Academy of fine Arts "appointed". (Kondakov)
