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Original Comic Arts & Illustrations

Friday 09 May 2025, 11:00 AM • Rome

494

Manfredo Manfredini

Divina Commedia - Inferno, Canto 23, 1907

Estimate

€ 600 - 1.000

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Current bid Starting bid

€ 600

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At auction on Friday 09 May 2025 at 14:30

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Information

pencil, ink and watercolor on thin cardboard
50 x 67 cm
Original illustration made by Manfredini between 1904 and 1907 for his famous edition of "The Divine Comedy" published by Nerbini in 1908. Posting holes, slight creases and small tears in the margins. Signed. Born in Ferrara in 1881, Manfredini moved to Florence in 1904, the year in which the publisher Giuseppe Nerbini commissioned a new edition of the Comedy, asking him to illustrate the one hundred cantos of the poem. During the feverish and excited performance of this laborious work, Manfredini fell madly in love with the Ukrainian opera singer Solomija Krusel'nyc'ka; his unrequited love drove him to madness and to several violent episodes that resulted in numerous arrests. In April 1907 he was arrested after being found in possession of a pistol and a bottle of vitriol (probably intended for the Ukrainian soprano), he was then admitted to the Mombello mental asylum in Brianza where, after an agony lasting forty days, Manfredini officially died from a serious form of pulmonary tuberculosis. His work remained unfinished, stopping at the XXX canto of Purgatory, Nerbini then decided to entrust the remaining panels to the Neapolitan Tancredi Scarpelli.

Condition report

To request a Condition Report, please contact fumetti@finarte.it The department will provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Please note that what Finarte declares with respect to the state of conservation of the objects corresponds only to a qualified opinion and that we are not professional conservators or restorers. We urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. We always suggest prospective buyers to inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition during the exhibition days as indicated in the catalog.