LEOPOLDO METLICOVITZ EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE MILAN.

1906. 33x19 inches. G. Ricordi, Milan. Condition B+: restoration at edges and in corners; minor creases in image. When the Simplon tunnel opened in 1906 it provided, for the first time, a direct rail link between Northern Europe and Italy. Hewn from solid rock, the 64,972 tunnel was a triumph of engineering. This image was the winner of a competition organized to announce the opening of the tunnel. It is an allegorical image in high Liberty style, of which Metlicovitz was a master, of Mercury (the God of Commerce) riding on the fender of a train emerging from the darkness of the tunnel into the wide open open Italian countryside, with Milan in the distance. The poster exists in two sizes, of which this is the smaller format, and also exists in Italian. Manifesto 39 (var).