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Matte-finish 5.75 x 9 photo on a 9.75 x 13.75 mount, signed and inscribed in ink on the mount “a Sir Warden Chilcott, Cordialmente … Mussolini, Roma Nov. ’26.” Sir Harry Stanley Warden Chilcott was a personal friend of Mussolini, calling him “a great Italian patriot.” In fact, an article in the July 21, 1933 edition of the New York Times reported in a “Special Cable” from London that “Sir Warden Chilcott, wealthy Conservative and a friend of Premier Mussolini, is understood to be the personality behind the National Unity Council, a new organization having as its objective making Sir Austen Chamberlain Prime Minister….” The article had nothing to do with Italy or Mussolini. Chilcott represented Liverpool Walton in the House of Commons from 1922–1929, first as a Conservative, then as a Unionist Party member. He was also a noted yachtsman and horse breeder. On October 31, 1926, just days before Mussolini signed this photograph, a 15-year-old boy fired at him in Bologna, Italy after the Italian dictator left a meeting of the Congress for the Advancement of Science. The bullet pierced his uniform, but did not hit him. The youth was seized by the crowd, stabbed, strangled, and beaten to death. Framed to an overall size of 11 x 15. Light silvering and small corner crease to image, and subtle soiling to mount, otherwise fine condition. RRAuction COA.
