***THIS ITEM HAS NOW BEEN SOLD***

Hammered Metal Panel #2
From Incres Lines' MV VICTORIA
Lobby Adjacent to the Suites Leading to the Cinema
by Emanuele Luzzati

Items from MV VICTORIA I (ex DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, VICTORIA, THE VICTORIA, PRINCESA VICTORIA)

***THIS ITEM HAS NOW BEEN SOLD***

Hammered Metal Panel Mounted On Wood
Oceanic, Geometric, Abstract Design
83 Inches Tall by 20 Inches Wide
Price:  Please Contact Peter Knego For Details

Above, the lobby leading to the Cinema on board MV VICTORIA, facing aft. The panels are on either side of the passageway. Below, a view of two of the panels in place. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 1997.

In every aspect, Incres Line's VICTORIA was a sheer delight. It is incredible that most of her 1959-commissioned artwork survived all the way until the ship's beaching at Alang in 2004. So much of her Pulitzer furniture and Luzzati artworks had been used and enjoyed by legions of passengers spanning three active careers (Incres' VICTORIA, Chandris' THE VICTORIA, Louis' PRINCESA VICTORIA) and four decades.

Close ups of portions of the panel. Photos and copyright Peter Knego 2006.

There were a total of four of these panels on the ship and only two will be available here for sale. They seem to have oceanic themes. The metal surfacing is more silver or nickel colored than the usual brass/bronze material used on other such works by Luzzati. There is a brownish gold patina painted on by Luzzati, himself. In the top half of this particular panel, the sun is shown twice, possibly at noon and sunset. Crescent moons or abstract clouds surround the top sun. The sea is represented by various symbols and shapes. A fish and either a clam or urchin join some sort of mollusk in the bottom half of the panel.

Emanuele Luzzati's shipboard contributions go back many decades.  In collaboration with the great triumvirate of Italian designers Gio Ponti, Nino Zoncada, and Gustavo Pulitzer, he and many other key artists contributed works that adorned a gamut of famous ships from CONTE BIANCAMANO to ANDREA DORIA and OCEANIC.  Luzzati is well known in Italy, not just for his ceramics, but his paintings, illustrations (several children's books), stage designs, and animation.  There is a museum and gallery in Genoa, where he still resides, dedicated to his works.

With many thanks to Italian ship historian Paolo Piccione and Mr. Luzzati's curator, I was able to interview the wonderful man in October of 2005 at his museum in Porto Antico, Genoa. He explained his creative process with this type of work. First, in reverse, he pressed the composition into the thin metal (aluminum, copper, or nickel) and then, once finished with the work, filled it in with a plaster-like substance. Once set, he cemented the work onto wood panels.