A large wooden panel photograph of the five Mauri siblings – Luciano, Silvana, Ornella and Fabio, holding Achille – sitting on a shack roof in Rimini in the early 1940s. Juxtaposed with the family photo, which occupies about three-quarters of the panel, an image of Fascist and Nazi flags casts a shadow over their carefree look. Fratelli sul capanno first appeared in the Der Politische Ventilator artist’s book (inv. 205). Mauri would re-use it in several other versions: ‘darkened’ by a blue photographic filter (inv. 727), printed in large format without the flags (inv. 3738), framed, and accompanied by a caption that tells the story behind the shot: ‘Foto eseguita con la regia di Fabio Mauri a Rimini nel 1939 dei fratelli (da sinistra) Luciano, Silvana, Ornella, Achille sulle ginocchia di Fabio Mauri’ (Photo taken under the direction of Fabio Mauri in Rimini in 1939 of siblings {from left to right} Luciano, Silvana, Ornella, Achille in Fabio Mauri’s arms) (inv. 1078).1

1. Although the artist dated the photograph to 1939, the shot must have been taken a few years later, because Achille Mauri, in his brother Fabio’s arms, was born in 1939.