Guiseppe LUCCHETTA "Otello, Mario del Monaco" HST, signed and dated 1981 lower left, unframed. 120 x 75 cm Mario del Monaco was an Italian tenor of international renown, partnering Callas and Tebaldi in their respective debuts at the MET in New York. For several seasons, he was the star tenor at Milan's La Scala Theatre. In 1959, under the baton of HV Karajan, he sang OTELLO (known as The More of Venice), W Shakespeare's drama set to music by G Verdi. Throughout his long and prestigious artistic career, he performed this role 427 times, an absolute record in the history of opera. Born in Florence, after studying in Pesaro, he moved to Treviso, a town he particularly loved, where a Concert in his honor has been held every August 15 since 1982, in the magnificent setting of Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore. This portrait, in Otello's stage costume, was commissioned in 1982 by the Treviso Town Hall and presented to Chevalier Arturo Malossi, a great friend of the tenor and founder of the Concert. Exhibited in Honfleur from July 19 to August 18, 2024, "Paysages, âmes et lumières" p.104 Provenance: Collection Paolo CIGAIA