Screenprint on canvas dedicated to the Cangrande della Scala equestrian monument in Verona, dating from the first half of the 14th century. As in Amore mio (inv. 3427), Fabio Mauri interpreted this image of an Italian art masterpiece via a contemporary graphic technique that, with its bright colours, tips its hat to American Pop art, albeit with some substantial differences: ‘Italians were seeking a figurative definition of the consumer society emerging at that time, but unlike in America, within sight, Italian artists had the imperative of classical art via the monuments and museums of Mediterranean and Renaissance art. In that sense, Italian pop was not Pop.’1 Mauri first exhibited his Cangrande series of works (see also inv. 929, 1128, 1134, 3207) in Bologna in 1971, in dialogue with silkscreens from the America series (inv. 200), one-off versions similar in technique, colour range and size.

1. F. Mauri, 22 June 2007, unpublished text, Fabio Mauri Archive, Rome.