Watercolour, signed LConconi; 380 x 240 mm. This is the original drawing for the cover of the novel Port-Tarascon, by Alphonse Daudet, published in Paris by Dentu-Guillaume in 1890, that was the first job as illustrator commissioned in Paris to Conconi, thanks to the mediation of his friend Luigi Rossi, who already worked as illustrator in France. See M. Bianchi, G. Ginex, Luigi Conconi incisore, Milan, 1994; pages 18 and 19.
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.