Travel Poster Italy Poster

Cortina painted as a whole winter day in one sheet: the Dolomites rising pink and grey behind the town, a bell tower, red-roofed houses, a cable car climbing the right-hand slope and skaters circling a rink at the bottom left. In the foreground a woman in a pink beanie and a striped blue jumper holds a dog with a yellow tag on its collar. CORTINA is lettered in green with ITALY in red beneath it. The gouache is loose and the perspective is cheerfully wrong, which is exactly what a travel poster should be.

Busy, warm and full of small things to find, which makes it a good print for a child's room or a family hallway as much as a living room. The pale blue and white ground keeps it light against most wall colours, and the red roofs give an accent for textiles. A simple white or oak frame lets the scene breathe; a heavy frame crowds it. It rewards being hung low enough for a child to study the skaters.