Renato Fratini

Renato Fratini (Rome, Oct 1932 - Mexico, 1973) was an Italian commercial artist who specialised in cinema posters and book covers. His heyday was in 1960s London.

Renato Fratini studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. He began his career in the early 1950s by joining the studio owned by the Guerri brothers. There he mostly worked on illustrations and comic strips. In 1952 he joined the Augusto Favalli's studio, which was at that time Italy’s biggest producer of film posters. He worked with artists such as Nicola Simbari, Enrico DeSeta and Giorgio De Gaspari.

During his six-year stay in the studio, Fratini made many memorable illustrations for films such as Senso, Invaders from Mars, The Sweet Smell of Success, and La Donna Piu Bella Del Mondo, the last being notable for his portrait of Gina Lollobrigida. Fratini also experimented with abstract elements.

Following the collapse of the Favalli studio in the late 1950s he moved to Milan and joined the D'ami studio. Through agents he got commissions to paint covers for Sexton Blake, Famous Romance Library and Thriller, all from Fleetway Publications.

He moved to London in late 1958, despite not speaking English, and there he enjoyed a very productive career throughout the 1960s.

It was Eric Pulford, who ran the Downton agency, that brought Fratini to London. Downton held the Rank account and accounts with most of the other large studios. Rank was connected to the Cinecitta studios in Rome and Fratini was working at the Cinecitti publicity studio, Studio Favalli.

In cinema posters, Fratini produced the artwork for From Russia With Love (1963) from a design by Eddie Paul. Other work included Whistle Down The Wind (1961), Phantom of the Opera (1962), This Sporting Life (1963), The Chalk Garden (1964), Maroc 7 (1966), Khartoum (1966). Often Eric Pulford produced the design and Fratini did the painting.

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