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Date: |
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Description: | (with stylised trefoil)
VR
db monogram in circle (conservator's mark)
design suit of armour, full-length with fantastically spiked helmet, pauldrons, codpiece, kneecops and sabatons. Peeping
through the eyeslits of the helmet is a tiny caricature portrait of King Victor Emmanuel III wearing the Italian tricolour. Attached to
either side of the armoured figure are stout taut ropes and the feet are shackled with chains
text: "NEUTRALITA....ARMATA" (upper edge) translated as "Armed neutrality
whole MODEL
Exhibition caption: "The image of Italy as an armoured knight bound in chains underlines the political factionalism
current throughout the country on the eve of war. The King, Victor Emmanuel III, peeps timidly from the vantage point of the visor.
Retrosi, a shrewd political commentator, specialised in most types of graphic work including posters, book illustrations and print-
making"
Italy is shown as a massively armoured yet impotent knight, padlocked and bound by the ropes and chains of indecision, on the brink of
intervention. From the barely open visor, the diminutive and timid figure of King Vittorio Emmanuele III looks out.
Retrosi's Drawing owes much to the work of the Futurist sculptor Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916).
Postcard artwork for: "Neutralita Armata", Virgilio Retrosi, IWM PCD 0011 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Subjects: | Neutrality of & 1914 = 1915 King of Italy portrait / personification humorous First World War & Italy Victor Emmanuel III Caricature | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Retrosi, Virgilio | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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