Ut pictura poesis

The theme of the work is d’Annunzio and Fortuny’s art. In the essay the different phases of the relationship between the two artists are reconstructed, until d’Annunzio’s theatrical productions that were realised in collaboration with the painter, especially Francesca da Rimini. The two artists work in the wake of Wagner’s innovations and want to create a ‘total’ theatre, taking care of the different aspects of the décor: scenography, lighting effects, costumes. In this regard, Fortuny’s contribution was decisive. In fact, they will not have a happy outcome, even though the affinity between these two protagonists remained firm in the late nineteenth-century culture.