Born in 1925, Antonio De Giusti was a pupil of the renowned still life artist, Giorgio Morandi. De Giusti’s life in the art world began by making lithographs, but in 1950, Enzo Ferrari asked Morandi if he could recommend an artist to put his visionary designs on canvas. Morandi scheduled a meeting for the pair, signalling the beginning of a long-lasting relationship.

Ferrari and De Giusti were similar in their conservative—yet forward-thinking—approach, allowing the duo to work closely together. When De Giusti handed over his first piece, Ferrari was evidently satisfied and said to him: ‘Now you know the way to Maranello’. In the language of the "Commendatore", this meant an invitation to return for further assignments. Franco Gozzi, Ferrari’s faithful assistant, asked De Giusti on his way out: ‘What have you done to Ferrari? This is the first time he has paid without discussing the price!’

The illustrations of cars and drivers, painted in the medieval tempera style with lightness and elegance, appealed to Ferrari, as did De Giusti's graphic design. This led him to create typeface used in official Ferrari literature, such as the font used for the Ferrari 512 BB lettering.

Alongside his work for Ferrari, De Giusti painted multiple motorsport scenes in his chosen tempera style from his home in Nonatola, near Modena, where he spent most of his life. Following his passing in 2017, his legacy is a series of paintings covering a period of over 60 years, and bringing to life some of the most significant moments in motorsport history. Always one to challenge himself, his wife, Nina, recalls that: ‘He didn't work in oil … because he said it would be too easy, as oil colour allows mistakes to be corrected. But he wanted to show that he didn't make any mistakes … using tempera or watercolour’.

A reserved man by nature, De Giusti lived to paint and did very little to sell his works, resulting in most of his private artwork remaining in his studio, with little sold on the open market. This piece provides a wonderfully rare opportunity to acquire artwork created by Enzo Ferrari’s favoured artist.

This painting portrays the final race of the 1998 season at Suzuka, Japan. Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher was just four points behind his West McLaren Mercedes rival, Mika Häkkinen. The German driver was forced to start at the back of the grid but fought his way to third place in the race, but Schumacher’s bad luck continued as he was forced to retire due to a puncture. This allowed Häkkinen to claim his first-ever World Championship title.