(Milan 1852 - 1917)
REGINA DI COPPE (Queen of cups), c. 1911
Etching (acquaforte monotipata); a fine impression, richly and skilfully printed in black ink with surface tone, on white wove paper. Only state. With the artist's signature in the surface tone LConconi. Numbered and signed at bottom right with the stylus prova 52 / LConconi. With wide margins, minimal faults at the margins, generally in very good condition. Inscribed in pencil at bottom margin Donna di coppe. To the platemark 505 x 385 mm; the entire sheet measuring 700 x 483 mm. See M. Bianchi, G. Ginex, Luigi Conconi incisore, Milan, 1994; cat. no. 63.
According to Bianchi and Ginex the subject, reversed, derives from a watercolour by Conconi exhibited in 1911.
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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.
