La Strage degli Innocenti

La Strage degli Innocenti  is a beautiful colored lithograph, realized by the Polish illustrator Franz Laskoff  and printed in 1900 by G. Ricordi and C. Milano, Milan. Signed on plate on the lower right margin, in the green area.

A  wonderful vintage Art Nouveau advertising poster, in excellent conditions, except for two light abrasions of the paper at the edges.

This original poster has the dignity of an object of art to be collected and enjoyed at home.

Franz Laskoff (Bronberg, 1869 – England, 1918/1921) was born in Poland and, after he studied in Strasburg and worked shortly in Paris, he moved to Milan in 1898. As concerns his artistic style, he was strongly influenced by the English Beggarstaff Brothers, who reduced Art Nouveau to its graphic essential elements.

A decisive influence in this transition from Art Nouveau to a simpler graphic style was his arrival at Ricordi in 1901. The Beggarstaff’s influence, together with that of Japanese wood block printa, is clear in many of his works for Ricordi musical performances. Although Laskoff worked only for five years in Italy, until 1904, his style deeply influenced the other artists who collaborated with him there.