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SILVER Seller in Milano, Italy
Etching by Telemaco Signorini (Florence, 1835 – Florence, 1901) depicting a woman in profile, 1875. Painter, engraver, poet and writer, from a very young age he worked alongside his father Giovanni Signorini, a modest but esteemed painter in the service of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Leopold II. At the age of 17, in 1852, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. However, the academic life and the rigid climate of the masters contrasted with his rebellious soul. Mazzini's conspirator and volunteer in the Second War of Independence, in 1856 he decided to leave the Academy to dedicate himself to painting "en plain-air" with his colleagues Odoardo Borrani ( Pisa, 1833 – Florence, 1905) and Vincenzo Cabianca (Verona, 1827 – Rome, 1902). He frequents the Caffè Michelangiolo and travels to Venice, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Scotland. With Cabianca in La Spezia and the Ligurian landscapes they mark a turning point in his painting which is enriched with chiaroscuro contrasts and a conscious use of stain as the main element of the figurative language. In 1861 in Paris he became friends with the artists of the Barbizon School. Having returned to Italy, in 1862 he became involved with Diego Martelli (Florence, 1839 – Florence, 1896), an important art critic with whom he founded the Gazzettino delle arti del disegno (1867) and the Giornale Artistico (1873) and for whom illustrates First Steps and Fornications by Fra Mazzapicchio. He is considered one of the main exponents of the Macchiaioli group. In 1871 he approached the engraving technique by illustrating science books, then those of his friend Martelli, he engraved isolated etchings (Primavera and Novembre, published in L'Arte in Italia) and the important series of 11 subjects dedicated to the Market Old man of Florence. This etching is one of the three illustrations that Signorini created for the work in one hundred copies by Diego Martelli, Fornications of Fra Mazzapicchio, Pisa, Tipografia Nistri, 1875. The other two plates depict: Nude of a reclining woman and a little girl. The volume is considered rare. Luisa Arrigoni in the article which appeared in I quaderni del connoisseur of prints states: "Much happier, and one could almost speak of masterpieces, are the illustrations for the "Fornications", perfectly in tune with Martelli's unscrupulous prose... the "feminine portrait" unique work in nineteenth-century Italian graphics. Very limited means: a few light and final scratches on the copper plate, Signorini manages to evoke luminous and full-bodied figures". On the back of the support of this copy, a handwritten label states that it is a first edition of 24 copies. With a few lines and delicate scratches Signorini creates the profile of a woman. He focuses on the description of a necklace obtained from dense parallel lines from which a pendant descends onto a deep neckline. The profile acquires its own plasticity on the sheet. Monogram of the artist at bottom left. Excellent, fresh and well-contrasted impression on compact ivory paper. Excellent state of preservation, minimal margins beyond the edge. Bibliography: Quaderni del conoscitore di stampe, no. 2, October-November 1970, p. 51.
ID: 11318-1716565829-92098
