De Matteis, Maria (1912 - 1988)

Sketches for theatrical costume

Lot of two sketches for costumes for the theatrical show SMANIE DELLA VILLEGGIATURA (Goldoni) staged at the Teatro Piccolo in Milan directed by Giorgio Strehler. Original sketches drawn by Maria De Matteis. Mixed media on paper and cardboard, signed M.D.M. 1954. Noble in eighteenth-century clothes, and a waiter in the café, Maria De Matteis began her artistic career illustrating books
of fairy tales,
Maria De Matteis, set and costume designer, has dressed great stars of the show business.
As a young illustrator of short stories, she entered the heart of the
of her activity of her approaching the world of theater,
becoming her assistant to Gino Carlo Sensani (Siena,
1888 - Rome, 1947), painter, costume designer and
set designer, master of costume history in the
Italian show.
In 1949 Luchino Visconti asked her to design i
costumes for William's Troilus and Cressida
Shakespeare (the scenes were by Franco Zeffirelli, who
took his first steps alongside Maestro Visconti).

The Miser by Molière, 1952, Orazio Costa; Gigi by Colette and Loos (1955, directed by Giorgio De
Llull); Iphigenia in Tauride by Euripides, which debuted in Taormina in 1957 under the direction of Mario Ferrero.
A triumph was the staging at the Piccolo in Milan of Carlo Goldoni's Holiday Trilogy, directed by
Giorgio Strehler (for two consecutive seasons, 1954-55 and 1955-56). Maria De Matteis is capable of drawing i
character characters.
Silvio D'Amico, in the Tempo of 1 December 1954, writes of
«enchanting scenes», «feast of colours» and «costumes drawn from the most delicate period paintings».
Fundamental is the knowledge of the history of art, which allows the Florentine costume designer to draw, in the
total respect for historical truth, Renaissance or "Empire" style models,
The creations born for the cinema are memorable: from Ossessione by Visconti (1943) to Othello by Orson Welles
(1952), from The Golden Coach by Jean Renoir (1952) to War and Peace directed by King Vidor (1956), which earned her the
Oscar nomination for best costume design. 1956 is also the year of John Huston's Bible, which follows
Richard Fleischer's Barabbas (1962).
These are the years in which the myth, the history of the centuries before Christ, is back in fashion. In 1961, for the film Gaston of
Mario Bonnard, protagonist Alberto Sordi, Maria De Matteis is awarded the Silver Ribbon for i
costumes.
The Seventies opened with Sergej Bondarciuk's Waterloo. Towards the end of her life, she makes more masterpieces to wear for the film
Christopher Columbus (1985) directed by Alberto Lattuada.
Poor conditions, stains, damages and shortcomings to the paper. Measures about cm. 45x35