lorrainedietrich

This is the Bloch MB.80 air ambulance. A prototype for what would become the MB.81. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloch_MB.81

The aircraft is a CANT 6 : The CANT 6 was a flying boat designed for Italian military service in 1925. It was a large biplane of conventional design with three engines mounted in nacelles within the interplane gap. Only a single example was produced in its original military configuration, followed by two further aircraft redesigned as 11-seat passenger aircraft. One of these was retained by CANT, but the other entered airline service with Società Italiana Servizi Aerei.

From Time Magazine, May 10, 1926:

Centurione. The Marquis of Centurione (Italian) announced last month that, flying the seaplane Cosulich I built by the Cosulich Steamship Co., with three Isotta-Fraschini motors, he would attempt a 30,000-mile, four-continent flight this summer—Italy to Africa, to South America, to Panama, to Cuba, to the U. S., to Newfoundland, to the Azores, to Italy.

The Marchese Vittorio dei Principi Centurione was an Italian military pilot and seaplane racer. He was killed in a crash in September 1926 while practicing for the Schneider Cup competition.

It's interesting that he's pictured with his parents as, after the crash, his father (the Marchese Carlo Centurione Scotto - www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21619591) became a well known psychic researcher, hoping to connect with the spirit of his dead son.

Mother is Marchesa Luisa Cattaneo di Belforte (1881-1939)

Thanks Luc Brocard and Seuss.. We'll update the catalog record.