Francis Bacon
1909 – 1992, artist

Francis Bacon (1909-1992), the internationally famous Irish-born British painter who was among the most influential artists...

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Francis Bacon
1909 – 1992, artist

Francis Bacon (1909-1992), the internationally famous Irish-born British painter who was among the most influential artists of the post-war period, is linked to Fabriano by the dozens of drawings and collages on paper that he produced in pencil, coloured pastels and oil paint, although one curious detail in this relationship concerns that fact that he was at first unaware of using the company’s products. The story involves the journalist Cristiano Lovatelli Ravarino, the owner of various works given to him by Bacon between 1977 and 1992. Lovatelli Ravarino provided the artist with much of the paper on which these works were executed, and he often purchased it directly from the Cartiere Fabriano, as evidenced by the embossed stamp in the corner of each sheet. When he first used this paper, Bacon would cut these marks off, mistakenly thinking that they were advertisements. This explains why various drawings from this period have a little square snipped away from one corner. Fortunately, over time, he gave up this disagreeable habit. Maybe someone told him why the marks were actually there…

FRANCIS BACON / STUDY FROM A HUMAN BODY, 1992
etching, aquatint and drypoint on copper plate
135 × 100 cm | printed in 16 colours on Fabriano Rosaspina paper
163 × 121 cm | edition of 90 impressions and thirty artist’s proofs
printed by Vigna Antoniniana – Rome | edition 2rc Edizioni d’Arte – Rome and Malborough – London.
© The Estate of Francis Bacon, by SIAE 2021

PORTRAIT OF FRANCIS BACON
© Ulf Andersen/Getty Images

Ludwig van Beethoven
1770 – 1827, composer

Among the uses of paper Fabriano could not miss an art of primary importance: music. In a recently published...

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Ludwig van Beethoven
1770 – 1827, composer

Among the uses of paper Fabriano could not miss an art of primary importance: music. In a recently published article, Seow-Chin Ong, a professor at the University of Louisville, has retraced the process by which Beethoven (1770-1827) wrote op. 97, known as the “Archduke” trio (after Beethoven’s pupil and patron Archduke Rudolf of Austria), making use of watermarks to establish dates. In his account, he has also analyzed the autograph manuscript of op. 96 (in the image), the last violin sonata written by this composer who, more than any other, was a symbol of the nascent Romantic Movement. The document displays some decidedly unusual characteristics: in its format (356 x 244 mm as opposed to the more typical 230 x 320 mm), and above all in its appearance. For the score of op. 96 and op. 97 bears a watermark which identifies its provenance immediately: Fabriano, rather than just some nondescript papermaker from the Habsburg Empire, as is usually the case the case with Beethoven’s manuscripts. The watermark includes the monogram PM: the initials of the company’s founding father, Pietro Miliani.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN / MA 16, SONATA NO. 10 IN G MAJOR, OP. 96, FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO, 1815
Autograph manuscript, p. 1. 1812.
© The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. MA 16.
Mary Flagler Cary Collection (Cary 46)

PORTRAIT OF LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
© iStockphoto

Giambattista Bodoni
1740 – 1813, typographer

Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) is famous for being the “Prince of Typographers”, but he was also an engrave, printer and publisher...

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Giambattista Bodoni
1740 – 1813, typographer

Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) is famous for being the “Prince of Typographers”, but he was also an engraver, printer and publisher of great discernment. Typefaces designed by him are still in use throughout the world today. Various letters survive from his correspondence with Pietro Miliani between 1795 and 1813. Their epistolary exchanges reveal their differing personalities: Bodoni with his intense perfectionism and occasional outbursts of passionate feeling; Miliani with his unfailing professionalism and deference. Particularly noticeable is the difference between the exquisite Italian prose of the former, and the frequent grammatical lapses of the latter… In their letters we read of experiments (such as “vellina” – vélin or wove paper), theories, and even old wives’ tales (such as how “winter weather” would help whiten paper further through the action of frost), as well as a few reams of unsatisfactory paper (Bodoni: “I received through the post the consignment of Fabriano paper but, my goodness! How dreadful it is”), while the two men lament the country’s woes and its poor communications (“i torbidi d’Italia”, “Italy’s troubles”) that were already proving a problem in those days. However, looking beyond the language and the various points of view expressed, what comes across above all is a sense of an encounter that would be crucial for both men, and even more so for the generations that would follow.

GIAMBATTISTA BODONI / LETTER FROM G. BODONI TO PIETRO MILIANI,
Parma, 1st september 1797
© Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano - Archivio Storico Cartiere Miliani Fabriano

PORTRAIT OF GIAMBATTISTA BODONI

Michelangelo Buonarroti
1475 – 1564, artist

In spite of the political strife that afflicted this era, during the Renaissance paper production in Fabriano continued to grow in quality...

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Michelangelo Buonarroti
1475 – 1564, artist

In spite of the political strife that afflicted this era, during the Renaissance paper production in Fabriano continued to grow in quality and its success widened. Much archival material such as paper, watermarks and many other documents is evidence of this. Further, more evocative proof is provided by the correspondence of one of the great artists of the age. No introduction is necessary, the name will suffice. michelangelo (1475-1564) wrote this somewhat prosaic yet still interesting, and even rather amusing letter in 1514. Turning to a friend, a certain Niccolò, for advice, the artist ponders the best way of getting rid of an unwanted apprentice…

The Letters of Michelangelo, translated by
E.H. Ramsden, Peter Owen, London 1963, Vol. 1, p. 186

Niccolò – I could not answer you decisively yesterday evening at the Canto de’ Bischeri, as I had it in mind to do because, as the man on whose behalf you spoke to me was there and as you may perhaps have given him some hope of obtaining what he desired of me, I was afraid of causing you embarrassment. Therefore, although I burned to do so several times, I did not say precisely what I would have said had you been alone. But I am now writing to make the position clear to you, namely, that for a very good reason I cannot take on any apprentice, much less a foreigner. I therefore told you that I was not prepared to do anything for two or three months, so that he could decide – that is to say so that your friend should not leave his son here, expecting anything of me. But he did not see the point and answered, saying, that if I were but to see him I should pursue him not only into the house, but into bed. I assure you that I’ll deny myself that consolation, which I have no wish to filch from him. Therefore, will you get rid of him for me? I’m sure you’ll know how to do it, and will do it in such a manner that he won’t go away disgruntled. I commend me to you.

Your Michelangelo in Florence

MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI / LETTER OF MICHELANGELO TO NICCOLÒ DELLA BUCA, 31 july 1514
Firenze, Archivio Buonarroti V, 11.
© Fondazione Casa Buonarroti e Associazione Metamorfosi

PORTRAIT OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI
© Alessio Macrì

Antonio Canova
1757 – 1822, sculptor

Antonio Canova (1757-1822), another famous client of Cartiere Fabriano, is famous throughout the world for his neoclassical...

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Antonio Canova
1757 – 1822, sculptor

Antonio Canova (1757-1822), another famous client of Cartiere Fabriano, is famous throughout the world for his neoclassical sculptures. But he also made etchings and drawings. One of these depicts a «female figure raising her skirt»: it is almost a sketch, a faint pencil drawing on ivory paper, conserved among the drawings and prints at the Museum, Library and Archives of Bassano del Grappa.

ANTONIO CANOVA / FIGURA FEMMINILE CHE SI SOLLEVA LA GONNA,
Pencil on ivory paper.
© Comune Di Bassano Del Grappa – 2013. All rights reserved.

PORTRAIT OF ANTONIO CANOVA

Gabriele D’Annunzio
1863 – 1938, poet

Olga Brunner Levi, a singer and pianist from Trieste, met the ‘poet-prophet’ in June 1916, when a little over thirty, at Palazzo Giustiniani...

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Gabriele D’Annunzio
1863 – 1938, poet

Olga Brunner Levi, a singer and pianist from Trieste, met the ‘poet-prophet’ in June 1916, when a little over thirty, at Palazzo Giustiniani in Venice, where she lived with her husband. It was Gabriele d’Annunzio (1863-1938), poet and symbol of the Italian Decadent movement. The two enjoyed a passion as heated as it was ephemeral, testified by correspondence from which we have, here, a letter from 1917 (on three pages; the last showing the PMF watermark).

GABRIELE D’ANNUNZIO / LETTER WRITTEN TO THE LOVER OLGA LEVI,
7 August 1917

PORTRAIT OF GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO
Photograph by Augusto Rizza,
Portrait of Gabriele d'Annunzio in the Vittoriale
Courtesy of Fondazione Il Vittoriale degli Italiani.
Iconographic Archive

Federico Fellini
1920 – 1993, film director

«Why do I draw the characters in my films? …It is a way of first looking the film in the face, to see what type it is; an effort to fix on something...

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Federico Fellini
1920 – 1993, film director

«Why do I draw the characters in my films? …It is a way of first looking the film in the face, to see what type it is; an effort to fix on something, be it minuscule, even insignificant, but which nonetheless seems to me to have to do with the film, and covertly speaks to me of it.» The words of film director and winner of five Oscars, Federico Fellini (1920-1993). Often it was Fabriano paper that had the honour of accommodating the maestro’s drawings …

FEDERICO FELLINI / “AMARCORD”: LO ZIO DI TITTA, 1973
cm 22×28, pencils on paper.
Archivio Fondazione Federico Fellini

PORTRAIT OF FEDERICO FELLINI
© AFP/Getty Images

Giuseppe Garibaldi
1807 – 1882, patriot

The history books recall and celebrate the general and patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) for his contribution to the Unity of Italy...

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Giuseppe Garibaldi
1807 – 1882, patriot

The history books recall and celebrate the general and patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) for his contribution to the Unity of Italy in 1861, and for the legendary expedition of the Thousand from Quarto to Marsala. Paper-lovers will now also remember him for using Fabriano paper. Garibaldi wrote this letter at Caprera to the writer and anarchist Errico Malatesta, on September 30, 1873.

GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI / ORIGINAL LETTER BY GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI SENT TO ERRICO MALATESTA, 1873.
© Archivio Cicconi

PORTRAIT OF GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

Bruno Munari
1907 – 1998, designer

Bruno Munari (1907-1998), artist, illustrator and designer, a true master whose appeal stretches well beyond the art world...

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Bruno Munari
1907 – 1998, designer

Bruno Munari (1907-1998), artist, illustrator and designer, a true master whose appeal stretches well beyond the cognoscenti of the art world, was another famous user of Fabriano paper. Reproduced here is a work dating from 1970, most likely a preparatory study for the series of drawings entitled Look into my eyes from the same year. The watermarked sheet upon which the picture is drawn is an indicator of which paper Munari was using. Look carefully at the bottom edge…

BRUNO MUNARI / RITRATTI DI IGNOTI, 1970
© Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano

PORTRAIT OF BRUNO MUNARI
© Mondadori Portfolio/Archivio Angelo Cozzi

Georgia O’Keeffe
1887 – 1986, artist

Many American artists and photographers of the twentieth century worked with Fabriano paper. Among them were John Marin...

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Georgia O’Keeffe
1887 – 1986, artist

Many American artists and photographers of the twentieth century worked with Fabriano paper. Among them were John Marin, Jasper Johns, Gertrude Käsebier Berenice Abbott, and Richard Serra. And also the painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986), farmer’s daughter and, from 1924, wife of the photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz, whose work is usually placed within the “precisionist” movement of cubist realism. O’Keeffe produced various works on Fabriano paper. The origin of the paper used for two of these, both charcoal drawings on laid paper, can be certified thanks to the watermark bearing the initials PMF.

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE / EARLY ABSTRACTION, 1915
Charcoal on paper | 61.3 × 47 cm
Gift of Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation and the Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation M1997.189
Photo credit Malcolm Varon
© Georgia O’Keeffe, by SIAE 2021

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE / NO. 12 SPECIAL, 1915
Charcoal on Fabriano laid paper (PMF watermark) | 61.3 × 47 cm
Alfred Stieglitz Collection
© Georgia O’Keeffe, by SIAE 2021

PORTRAIT OF GEORGIA O’KEEFFE
© Joe Munroe/Archive Photos/Getty Immage

Francesco Rosaspina
1762 – 1841, engraver

The engraver Francesco Rosaspina appreciated Fabriano paper. He wrote it in a letter dated 7 July 1820, in which he describes...

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Francesco Rosaspina
1762 – 1841, engraver

The engraver Francesco Rosaspina appreciated Fabriano paper. He wrote it in a letter dated 7 July 1820, in which he describes the paper produced in Fabriano by Mr. Pietro Miliani as a printing paper of great quality, emphasizing its pastiness, definition and candour.

FRANCESCO ROSASPINA / INCISION BY FRANCESCO ROSASPINA, 1835
Portrait of Pietro Miliani, founder and owner of Miliani Fabriano Paper Mills
© Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano - Archivio Storico Cartiere Miliani Fabriano

FRANCESCO ROSASPINA / OPINION OF FRANCESCO ROSASPINA WITH AUTHENTICATED SIGNATUREA
ON THE QUALITY OF PAPER MADE IN FABRIANO BY PIETRO MILIANI FABRIANO PAPER MILLS,
3 July 1820A
© Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano - Archivio Storico Cartiere Miliani Fabriano

PORTRAIT OF FRANCESCO ROSASPINA

Raffaello Sanzio
1483 – 1520, artist

Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520) used Fabriano paper.  This is confirmed by the recurrence of watermarks recognized as from the paper mills...

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Raffaello Sanzio
1483 – 1520, artist

Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520) used Fabriano paper.  This is confirmed by the recurrence of watermarks recognized as from the paper mills of the city of the Giano. The comparison of Raffaello’s brands with historical watermarks present in the repertoire of watermarks dated from 1293 to 1798 collected by Prof. Augusto Zonghi in 1884, in possession of the Foundation Fedrigoni Fabriano, allowed to verify how Fabriano paper had reached fame and prestige between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to the point of being employed by the artists most loved by the court papalina, Michelangelo and Raffaello above all.

FILIGREE OF FABRIANO (1487)
present in the "Study for a Crucifix" by Raffaello Sanzio
preserved at the Biblioteca Marucelliana Vol. E.84, Florence
© Fondazione Fedrigoni Fabriano - Archivio Storico Cartiere Miliani Fabriano
Collezione Augusto Zonghi (Z01271) – Corpus Chartarum Fabriano (CCF)

PORTRAIT OF RAFFAELLO SANZIO