{"product_id":"19554-d-annunzio-gabriele-early-cabinet-photograph","title":"D'Annunzio, Gabriele. (1863–1938) Early Cabinet Photograph","description":"Early Henri Le Lieure cabinet card photograph of the profligate Italian poet, playwright and journalist, ca. 1880s.  A few stray marks, lower right edge broken, markings on verso, overall very good.  4 x 6.4 inches.\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003eD'Annunzio occupied a prominent place in Italian literature for many of his younger years, lauded for his decadent and original writings.  He later emerged as a significant political figure, particularly after his military service during the First World War when public regard cemented him as a national war hero.  Within a greater historical context, D'Annunzio's poetry and philosophical beliefs are certainly held in a critical light; while he never declared himself a fascist, he has been described by many as the precursor of Italian fascism.  His aesthetics served as the foundation for the ideals and techniques that presented during Mussolini-era Italian fascism.   \u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"css-53u6y8\" style=\"\"\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"css-axufdj evys1bk0\" style=\"\"\u003e\"D’Annunzio’s political playbook outlived him. Although he later vocally opposed both Adolf Hitler and his great admirer Benito Mussolini, he had nevertheless laid the aesthetic groundwork for them to follow. The black uniform of the “arditi”\u003cem class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\" style=\"\"\u003e \u003c\/em\u003ewas adopted by Mussolini’s Blackshirts (so too their experiments with castor oil). \u003cspan style=\"\"\u003eBut it was d’Annunzio’s canny ability to transform politics into an aesthetic — even religious — experience that proved most prescient. His narratives of bygone eras of glory, of virility expressed through violence, whipped an alienated and fractious populace into frenzy. His blithe disregard for truth allowed him to create — unfettered — his own reality. A morally repellent but brilliant man, he recognized that his countrymen’s desire for a modern myth outstripped their more material needs. And he gave them one.\" (The New York Times, 2019)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"\"\u003e\u003cbr style=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46093719699615,"sku":"19554","price":275.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0512\/4826\/7423\/files\/19554_D_27Annunzio_Cabinet_Photograph_1.jpg?v=1722189899","url":"https:\/\/www.schubertiademusic.com\/products\/19554-d-annunzio-gabriele-early-cabinet-photograph","provider":"Schubertiade Music and Arts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}