On your wall
Five Schools, Built to Deepen · The Ricordi House
Falstaff. Commedia lirica in 3 atti di A. Boito, musica de G. Verdi
Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928) · G. Ricordi & C., Milano, 1887
What it is
A colour lithographic advertising poster by Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928) for Falstaff, the three-act comic opera Arrigo Boito wrote and Giuseppe Verdi set to music. It was published in Italian by G. Ricordi & C. of Milan and is held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Why it matters
Falstaff was Verdi's final stage work, and Ricordi - the house that owned his catalogue - put its own art director, Hohenstein, on the job of selling it to an Italian public. This is the opera bill as commercial instrument: a publisher's poster made to move an audience toward a theatre, not a keepsake. (The BnF record files it under 1887, six years before the opera's 1893 premiere; read the catalogue year with that caveat.)
What to notice
Read the credit line - Boito the librettist is named ahead of Verdi the composer, the billing order of a text sold as much on its words as its score.
The old master's last laugh, hung on a wall to be sold.
Provenance
- School
- The Ricordi House (Various)
- Designer
- Adolf Hohenstein (1854-1928)
- Printer / house
- G. Ricordi & C., Milano
- Format
- Advertising poster
- Poster published
- G. Ricordi & C., Milano, 1887
- Source
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie · btv1b90167085 / ENT DN-1 (HOHENSTEIN)-FT6
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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