(Milan 1859 - 1937)
A VIEW OF THE DARSENA (In tempo di nebbia)
Etching and aquatint, not recorded by Mezzetti,three working proofs.
A) Earlier proof, extensively touched in black chalk. Printed on soft wove paper; numbered, signed and dated in purple chalk 17, E. Bazzaro -10/2-1916. Stained. To the platemark 275 x 152 mm, the entire sheet measuring 350 x 168 mm.
B) Intermediate proof. Printed on soft wove paper; numbered, signed and dated in purple chalk 18, E. Bazzaro -10/2-1916. Stained, traces of folds. On the verso another, poorly inked, impression. To the platemark 275 x 152 mm, the entire sheet measuring 310 x 178 mm.
C) Final proof. Signed E Bazzaro in the plate. Printed in greenish ink on wove paper; dated in black chalk 10 marzo 1916, titled with a brush IN TEMPO DI NEBBIA. To the platemark 275 x 152 mm, the entire sheet measuring 495 x 345 mm.
The small lake of Darsena, next to the Porta Ticinese, is all that remains of the complex system of canals and rivers that once crossed the city of Milan since Roman times.
A sculptor who also practiced printmaking, Ernesto Bazzaro, the brother of the painter Leonardo, studied at the Brera Academy under Ambrogio Borghi, but was deeply influenced by the anti-academic spirit of the sculptor Giuseppe Grandi and the painters Daniele Ranzoni and Tranquillo Cremona. Ernesto Bazzaro produced many impressive monuments, created figural decorations for Milanese building facades and also produced a number of small bronzes in commercial editions. In the etching technique Ernesto Bazzaro has been influenced by the works of Giuseppe Grandi and Luigi Conconi, the leading exponents of the acquaforte monotipata in Lombardy.
