Raoul Dal Molin Ferenzona, The Educandes

RAOUL DAL MOLIN FERENZONA
LE EDUCANDE

RAOUL DAL MOLIN FERENZONA
Firenze, 1879 – Milano, 1946

Etching on paper, signed and dated in the plate “DMFR 1909” (lower right),
titled and numbered in pencil by the artist “Le Educande 5/12” (lower left),
and signed in pencil “R.D.M. Ferenzona” (lower right margin).
18 × 13 cm / 7.1 × 5.1 in
with margins: 26.5 × 19 cm / 10.4 × 7.5 in

PROVENANCE: Vienna, private collection

Executed in Rome in 1909, Le Educande belongs to the artist’s most creative period, when his etchings reflected both Symbolist mysticism and Pre-Raphaelite refinement. The title, meaning The Schoolgirls, evokes a scene of introspective grace, where veiled figures and serene faces embody Dal Molin Ferenzona’s fascination with spiritual beauty and inner revelation.

Raoul Dal Molin Ferenzona was an Italian painter, writer, and printmaker whose career unfolded between Florence, Rome, and Paris. Deeply influenced by Gabriele D’Annunzio’s aestheticism, by the esoteric writings of Joséphin Péladan, and by the Symbolist circle of Sergio Corazzini in Rome, he pursued a visionary synthesis of art, mysticism, and poetry. His delicate, dreamlike lines recall Max Klinger, Beardsley, and the Pre-Raphaelites, while his subjects often express a tension between sensuality and transcendence.