Vintage Carpano Poster Carpano Cavaliere – Armando Testa (1953)


In 1953, as Italy was finding its stride in the post-war recovery, Armando Testa created this striking poster for Carpano — a design that channels the aristocratic spirit of the cavaliere, the gentleman-horseman of Italian tradition, into a modern graphic idiom that is unmistakably his own. The equestrian motif, handled with Testa's characteristic economy of line and colour, speaks to Carpano's long-held positioning as a drink of refinement and social distinction.


Testa's Mastery of the Single Image


Armando Testa (1917–1992) understood better than almost any of his contemporaries that the most powerful advertising image is one that can be absorbed in a fraction of a second and remembered for a lifetime. Trained in typography in his native Turin, he brought a typographer's instinct for weight, balance, and negative space to every poster he created. The Carpano Cavaliere demonstrates this mastery perfectly: the figure is bold, clear, and immediately legible, yet the composition rewards closer attention with its sophisticated handling of form and colour.


Carpano — Vermouth Since 1786


The House of Carpano has carried the distinction of having invented vermouth itself, when founder Antonio Benedetto Carpano first produced his aromatic fortified wine in Turin in 1786. By the time Testa created this poster, Carpano had held royal warrants and graced the finest establishments in Italy for more than a century and a half. That heritage of excellence is precisely what Testa's cavaliere imagery was designed to evoke — a drink fit for a gentleman, with a history to match.


Timeless Italian Style for Your Walls


Carefully restored from an original vintage source, this poster brings the full impact of Testa's 1953 design into perfect clarity. A superb piece for enthusiasts of Italian graphic design, equestrian art, aperitivo culture, and the decorative arts of the mid-twentieth century.

The poster has been carefully digitally restored by an artist remove any major signs of wear and tear and to refresh the original colours, retaining the vintage character of the poster.

COPYRIGHT:


For personal use only.


You should not physically resell or digitally redistribute the artworks as originals nor as modified.

WHAT YOU WILL GET

You will receive a download link to enable you to download the high resolution files with different ratios. They are in JPEG format. Your link will expire in 14 days and you will be able to download the files 3 times.

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A 4x5 ratio file for printing 4"x5", 8"x10", 16"x20", 40x50cm.

A 3x4 ratio file for printing 6"x8", 9"x12", 12"x16", 18"x24".

A 2x3 ratio file for printing 4"x6", 6"x9", 8"x12", 10"x15", 12"x18", 16"x24", 20"x30", 24"x36".

An international paper size file for printing 5"x7", A5, A4, A3, A2, A1, 50x70cm.

A file for printing 11"x14". https://bit.ly/4eqxHrt