Luigi Conconi
Milan 1852 - 1917
To the platemark 332 x 226 mm, the full sheet measuring 400 x 278 mm
Signed in pencil bottom left L Conconi, dedicated in pen Alla gentile signora Maginoni / e ai suoi buoni e bei bambini.
Provenance: Private Collection.
References:
Amalia Mezzetti, L’acquaforte lombarda nella seconda metà dell’800, Milan 1935; p. 174, no. 220.
M. Bianchi – G. Ginex, Luigi Conconi incisore, Milan 1994; no. 43.
Our print is an important addition to the artist's catalogue.
The etching is an artist’s proof hitherto unknown, extensively touched with brush and grey ink to create new shadows. Compared to the final state, our impression precedes several burnishing and etching interventions, such as the elimination of the leaf to the left and the remaking of the index finger of the mother's left hand. The print is pulled on Japanese paper. The proof was used by the artist to define the work in view of its final state. To the platemark 332 x 226 mm, the full sheet measuring 400 x 278 mm
Information on the master
Conconi studied architecture at the Accademia di Brera and the Politecnico di Milano. He came into contact with members of the literary and artistic circles of the Scapigliatura – the Italian equivalent of the French Bohème– notably Tranquillo Cremona and Daniele Ranzoni, both of whom influenced his early paintings. In the 1880s Conconi moved from the Realism of Scapigliatura toward Symbolism. The awards he received in Paris in 1900 and Munich in 1913 led to his international recognition.
Conconi, who personally saw to the production of virtually all his plates, was the leading exponent in Lombardy of Acquaforte monotipata. This technique involved the artist drawing directly onto the ink covering the plate, prior to pulling the impression. In this way each resultant print has different characteristics.
Other works of the master
