LEOPOLDO METLICOVITZ NON SIGNE Lot n° 2215

Elegant at The Beach Oil on Canvas / Huile sur Toile circa 1900 Painting attributed to Metlicovitz, Leopoldo Metlicovitz (Trieste, 1868 - Ponte Lambro (Como), 1944) was an Italian painter, cartellonista, illustrator and theatrical set designer. He is the son of a merchant from Dalmatia (the family name was originally Metlicovich), he worked for fourteen years as an apprentice in a printing house in Udine, where he learned the technique of lithography. At that time he was noticed by Giulio Ricordi, owner of the Ricordi Milano Officine Graphics Printing House, who invited him to Milan to work as an assistant engraver. In 1892, after cooperating with the photographic products company Tensi, he became a member of Ricordi as technical director. At the same time, he became interested in theatre and began his career as a set and costume designer at La Scala. The fashion designer Apple Naples hired him to make his advertising posters in 1906 for the great Universal Exhibition of Milan, he won the competition and designed the official poster of the fair, he became a famous poster designer and then collaborated with various magazines as an illustrator. Other famous images created by him are those for the manifesto of the film Cabiria, a colossal silent drama by Gabriele D'Annunzio, and the commercial name that is still used by the distillery producer of Fernet Branca, representing an eagle with its claws encircling the globe. Among his major creations on display are Fleur de Mousse, of which we have a copy in this sale, Madame Butterfly, Turando, and of course the Melle stores in Naples, he has also made calendars, opera librettos and postcards. From 1915 until his death he concentrated on painting, preferring landscape and portraiture. Along with his compatriot Marcello Dudovich, Metlicovitz is considered one of the fathers of Italian advertising graphics / Leopoldo Metlicovitz (Trieste, 1868 - Pont