«A drama of aesthetics and passion, this story pulses with life, depicting an episode of love in the existence of an artist and a lady: the loss of judgement, the giddiness of sin, the fascination of passion, all this would contribute to dragging the protagonists into the drama, were it not for an inclination towards prudence. But appearances accuse them – and only the candor of the young girl will succeed in putting things back on the road to truth». («Rivista Pathé», 20/10/1912)

Il ritratto dell’amata, together with La modella, deals with the relationship between artist and muse, between an artist and his work, with a love story at its base. The film was masterfully directed by Gerolamo Lo Savio, one of the main directors at FAI, along with Falena. This would however be one of Lo Savio’s last films. Acting at the same time as Managing Director of FAI, in 1914 he decided to bring his directing career to a close in order to dedicate himself full time to managing the company. Restoration started from an original nitrate negative from the Cinémathèque Française, which included all forty-one scenes indicated in the script. The copy was transferred to safety stock in 1996. Work was then begun to obtain a positive print complete with intertitles, which were not present in the original copy, as is often the case when dealing with a negative. The original script held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Arts du Spectacle, was used to reconstruct the intertitles, which were translated from French to Italian and cut in as indicated by the script and on the negative itself.

Alessia Navantieri, Michele Canosa