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Books and Manuscripts

Thursday 25 June 2026, 03:00 PM • Rome

7

Autografi

Manzoni, Alessandro / Caruso, Bruno

(Palermo 1927 - Roma 2018)

The history of the Column of Infamy in the images of Bruno Caruso, 1986

Artist's Resale Right

Estimate

€ 1.500 - 2.000

Sold

€ 1.905

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Hardboard folder containing 12 original ink drawings by Bruno Caruso for a planned volume on Alessandro Manzoni's "The Story of the Infamous Column ." The first drawing, with the title, is made using a reused sheet of antique 17th-century paper, 282 x 207 mm. The other eleven are mounted on Fabriano cardboard and are large in size, 400 x 275 mm. Titles : Caterina Rosa; the year 1630, the plague, suspicion, the infamous column; Ottavia Bono; the plague in Milan; the plague in the "The Story of the Infamous Column"; the barber Giangiacomo Mora; son of the barber Giangiacomo Mora; a judge in the "The Story of the Infamous Column"; Antonio Luccialotti; Guglielmo Piazza "At the rope"; execution of the sentence. Several drawings are made on reused sheets of antique paper.

Specialist Notes

The volume "Current Events in the History of the Column of Infamy. Engravings by Bruno Caruso" is edited by Gian Franco Grechi and published in 1986 in Milan by the Biblioteca Comunale di Milano / Casa del Manzoni. The work is part of the celebrated "I quaderni di Palazzo Sormani" series (issue 10) and includes a bibliographical appendix edited by Giulia Chiesa.
This text combines the philological and historical analysis of Alessandro Manzoni's essay with the expressive power of contemporary art.
Sicilian maestro Bruno Caruso (1927–2018), a lifelong advocate for justice, civil rights, and human suffering, illustrates Manzoni's work by focusing on universal concepts: the plague and suspicion, a graphic representation of the climate of collective paranoia; torture, a visual expression of pain and the barbaric methods of 17th-century inquisition; and the bureaucracy of evil, a portrait of judges and persecutors, shortsighted in the face of the innocence of the accused.

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