148 - Franco Librari (second half of the 20th century), for Cartiere Miliani, Fabriano

Franco Librari (second half of the 20th century), for Cartiere Miliani, Fabriano David, after Michelangelo, 1976 Backlit chiaroscuro watermark 40.6 x 35.6 cm (image size) Signature: “F. Librari” in the plate Date: “1976” in the plate Other inscriptions: “C. M. FABRIANO” in the plate Provenance: Cassa di Risparmio di Fabriano e Cupramontana; Veneto Banca SpA in LCA Condition. Support: 90% (electrical components not tested) Condition. Surface: 90% 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 Up for auction is an example of an artistic chiaroscuro watermark—the date refers to the preparation of the matrix—created by Franco Librari for the historic Cartiera Miliani paper mill in Fabriano, based on Michelangelo’s famous “David.” As Annarita Librari, daughter of Franco Librari, recalls, “With Giuseppe Miliani (1816–1890), grandson of Pietro (1744–1817), founder of the Miliani company, the paper mill expanded; drawing paper established itself as the finest—so much so that it won an award at the 1851 London Exhibition—and security paper began to be the Fabriano factory’s specialty. By the time of Giuseppe’s death, the paper mill was already a large complex, but it would be his son Giambattista (1856–1937) who would carry out the actual transformation from an artisanal to an industrial enterprise (...). Giambattista combined technical expertise with a broad vision of industrial organization, thanks to the frequent trips he took—beginning at a very young age—to various European countries and North America. In 1889, he received the Legion of Honor for presenting the finest watermarks for banknotes at the Paris Exposition. Even before this recognition in Paris, there was genuine enthusiasm for Fabriano’s watermarks. In 1886, Ernst Kirchner of Frankfurt am Main wrote: “Your watermarked papers are the most beautiful I have ever seen. Ever since I’ve owned these truly artistic sheets, I no longer even dare to look at similar products from Germany. The portraits, as well as the details that adorn them, are of admirable, perfect finesse and now form the centerpiece of this modest collection, which I cherish with great pride.” In the field of artistic light-and-dark watermarks for banknotes, Giambattista initially enlisted Prof. Bianchi of Rome—a medalist for the Sacred Apostolic Palaces—to perform the wax engravings; Bianchi would send the commissioned wax blocks directly from Rome to Fabriano. Subsequently, his foresight and provident planning led him to establish a wax engraving department within the Watermark Workshop of the Fabriano paper mills, where he assigned young and skilled artists who were able to fully meet the company’s needs. The founder of this school was Serafino Cilotti (1868–1943), who created works of remarkable artistic impact, considered a new form of figurative art expressed through wax, Angelo Bellocchi (1880–1939) and Virgilio Brozzesi (1869–1946). Aldo Frezzi (1885–1972), (...) Eraldo Librari (1907–1988), and Luigi Filomena. Luigi Casoni worked as an engraver for Miliani until 1958, when he was hired by the Bank of Italy to engrave the “portraits” on banknotes.” "Eraldo Librari learned this art primarily by observing Serafino Cilotti as he engraved—or rather, by ‘stealing with his eye’—with a keen and receptive gaze, having already acquired an artistic education and an innate aptitude for the most varied forms of art. He joined Cartiera after winning a competitive exam, continuing a family tradition that had seen his father, Decoroso, and his grandfather, Angelo, work at the prestigious Fabriano factory as laborers in the Tini department. As a young man, after attending vocational school, Eraldo was an apprentice woodcarver under Prof. Ivo Quagliarini of Fabriano, working in his furniture workshop; he was a skilled and prolific sculptor who created numerous busts of well-known Fabriano figures of the time; he was the author of numerous poems and a songwriter; he was a wax engraver of numerous large-scale works of art and banknote portraits—the company’s flagship sector—the latter preceded by numerous preparatory sketches in pencil and ink, in an era when everything depended on the artist’s manual skill. The large-scale engravings, which the company commissioned from its most skilled engravers for promotional and image-building purposes, are not mere, impersonal reproductions of works of art or portraits, but the result of a personal interpretation reflected in an expressionistic and sculptural style (where a simple landscape element, such as a plant, is rendered with the meticulousness of a botanist, and facial expressions convey the pathos of the person portrayed), influenced by his involvement