VINI D'ITALIA / PLO. DONDENA & FIGLIO. Circa 1920.
78x28 inches, 198 1/4x71 cm. G. Ricordi & C., Milan. Condition B+: expert-overpainting in margins; repaired tears, small replaced losses, creases and restoration at edges and along vertical and horizontal folds. Two-sheets.
The appearance of Halley's Comet in 1910 caused quite an uproar around the world. The wine distributors Dondena & Sons, in Milan, took advantage of Italy's general unease with the cosmic appearance and had Aldo Mazza to create an image of a comet in whose tail were the words "mineral water." According to that poster, the populace could "save themselves" by drinking wine. That same year, Dondena applied for a trademark for their company featuring a star enclosed in the letter "D." This poster is a glorious allegory of Italian wines, in the figure of a woman emerging from grape-ladened vines, wrapped in Italy's tri-color flag and holding aloft the company's logo. Mazza began his artistic career as a caricaturist and book illustrator. By 1900, he had begun to design posters and worked with a variety of different clients to advertise sporting events, the Mele department store, and numerous publications and exhibitions. Rare.
