10 - Lino Bianchi Barriviera (1906–1985)

Lino Bianchi Barriviera (1906–1985) Ruins in the Phlegraean Fields, 1955 Ink on paper 48 x 62 cm Signature: “Lino Bianchi Barriviera” on the front Date: “1955” on the front Other inscriptions: “Ruins in the Phlegraean Fields, Lake Fusaro” on the front Provenance: Veneto Banca SpA in LCA Condition. Support: 95% Condition. Surface: 95% For direct WhatsApp assistance before and during the live auction: +39 346 12 999 80 // Direct assistance via WhatsApp before and during the auction: +39 346 12 999 80 In the Veneto-Julian dialects, “cabibo” or “cabibbo” (with the popular doubling of the labial plosive) meant “a shrewd and untrustworthy man” and, later, “fool,” and was also used as an insult toward immigrants from the South. The word derives from the Arabic “habíb” (friend), a term used—particularly in Islamic armies—to address an unknown but nearby person, and later adopted into Italic dialects. The word “strafanici,” on the other hand, is used in Trieste and means things of little value, knickknacks, or trinkets. It may derive from the Latin “extra faniculum,” referring to the votive offerings that were hung outside small temples and which time and the elements inexorably ruined. Alternatively, it can describe a good-for-nothing, a frivolous person lacking character… in short: a “strafanìc.” The meaning of the painting is therefore—“Watch out, guys, the trinket lover has arrived.” The artist recalls, in a phone conversation regarding the cataloging process (December 15, 2020), having irreverently used, to compose the image, several works of art presented at the recent Venice Biennale.