On your wall
Five Schools, Built to Deepen · The Ricordi House
Falstaff. Comédie lyrique en 3 actes par A. Boito, musique de G. Verdi
Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928) · G. Ricordi & C., Paris, 1894
What it is
A chromolithographed advertising poster for Verdi's Falstaff, designed by Adolf Hohenstein and printed by the Officine G. Ricordi & C. in Paris in 1894.
Why it matters
Ricordi published Verdi and staged him too, and this sheet carried his last opera - Boito's libretto after Shakespeare - into France, timed to the Paris premiere at the Opera-Comique's Salle du Chatelet on 18 April 1894. Hohenstein ran Ricordi's art department and built its house style; this is his Falstaff design reworked with French text for a French wall.
What to notice
The billing is set in French - comedie lyrique en 3 actes - the tell that this is the Paris state, not the Italian original.
An Italian opera dressed in French to open a foreign door.
Provenance
- School
- The Ricordi House (Various)
- Designer
- Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928)
- Printer / house
- Officine G. Ricordi & C., Paris
- Format
- Advertising poster
- Poster published
- G. Ricordi & C., Paris, 1894
- Source
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Bibliothèque-musée de l'Opéra · btv1b531873083 / AFFICHES ILLUSTREES-646
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 40x60" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
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