DOI Heft:
No. 40 (July, 1896)
DOI Artikel:Beltrami, G.: An Italian artist: Luigi Conconi
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17297#0101
An Italian Artist
Cremona's work was always marked by extreme does there is evidence of a constant desire to ex-
care and great perfection of technique, which increased press the thoughts within him in their entirety, yet
with the development of his talent, Conconi, on by the simplest possible means. The incisiveness
the other hand, looked upon details of this kind as of the eau-forte, and the rapidity of its execution,
only of secondary importance. He was quick to combined with its varied resources and effects, have
realise how discordant and how ineffective would thus had a great fascination for Conconi. In this
be too precise and exact a method in works branch of art he has acquired a truly masterful
such as his, which he endeavoured to invest, not sureness, and to-day he has no equal as an etcher
with an air of reality, but rather with the evanes- throughout Italy. His large work, the Cortile del
Palazzo Marino, one of the
first he did, shows great
ability and extraordinary
refinement; and the same
qualities are apparent in
his Arco di Tito, and
indeed in many other of
his plates—Neve sui tetti,
for example. But Con-
coni's true personality is
best revealed in those
works in which he has
discarded all striving after
reality and given free rein
to his impetuous fancy.
Take, for instance, his Ora
Allegra: a nun looking
from behind a window
grating at a funeral proces-
sion filing through the rain
towards the churchyard ;
or his Vita Contemplativa,
in which a shadow, thrown
upon a wall, suggests the
artist himself absorbed in
the contemplation of a
large lizard, warming itself
in the sun; see his Vita
Libera, or his Cenerentola,
a long cavalcade of knights
and paa:es and falconers,
"LA CASA DEL MAGO FROM A PAINTING BY L. CONCONI .
conducting to the prince
the young bride, mounted
cent appearance of a fanciful dream. Thus the on a white courser; or see, again, his Casa del
careful drawing or the fine colouring of a head or a Mago, and, again, his La Simona, based on one
hand was not a matter of chief concern with him. of Boccaccio's famous tales. Conconi, indeed, has
He conceived the chief function of his art to be found many of his best inspirations in the " De-
the harmonious arrangement of his scheme of cameron," among others La Fiammetta and LI Ban-
colour, and the rhythmical and suggestive flow of chetto di Nastagio degli Onesti. They are almost
his lines. Then, again, the rapid succession of his all full of a most delightful inventiveness, and his
ideas will not allow him to tarry over detail in the figures are all stamped with the youthful charm and
ordinary way ; his facture must needs be hurried, grace befitting the stories whence they spring. It
and therefore somewhat incomplete. Hence he has is almost a sin that Conconi, having shown his
reduced his style of drawing, his colouring and his power to enter so completely into the spirit of
brush-work almost to a formula. In everything he these tales, should not undertake the task of illus-
86
Cremona's work was always marked by extreme does there is evidence of a constant desire to ex-
care and great perfection of technique, which increased press the thoughts within him in their entirety, yet
with the development of his talent, Conconi, on by the simplest possible means. The incisiveness
the other hand, looked upon details of this kind as of the eau-forte, and the rapidity of its execution,
only of secondary importance. He was quick to combined with its varied resources and effects, have
realise how discordant and how ineffective would thus had a great fascination for Conconi. In this
be too precise and exact a method in works branch of art he has acquired a truly masterful
such as his, which he endeavoured to invest, not sureness, and to-day he has no equal as an etcher
with an air of reality, but rather with the evanes- throughout Italy. His large work, the Cortile del
Palazzo Marino, one of the
first he did, shows great
ability and extraordinary
refinement; and the same
qualities are apparent in
his Arco di Tito, and
indeed in many other of
his plates—Neve sui tetti,
for example. But Con-
coni's true personality is
best revealed in those
works in which he has
discarded all striving after
reality and given free rein
to his impetuous fancy.
Take, for instance, his Ora
Allegra: a nun looking
from behind a window
grating at a funeral proces-
sion filing through the rain
towards the churchyard ;
or his Vita Contemplativa,
in which a shadow, thrown
upon a wall, suggests the
artist himself absorbed in
the contemplation of a
large lizard, warming itself
in the sun; see his Vita
Libera, or his Cenerentola,
a long cavalcade of knights
and paa:es and falconers,
"LA CASA DEL MAGO FROM A PAINTING BY L. CONCONI .
conducting to the prince
the young bride, mounted
cent appearance of a fanciful dream. Thus the on a white courser; or see, again, his Casa del
careful drawing or the fine colouring of a head or a Mago, and, again, his La Simona, based on one
hand was not a matter of chief concern with him. of Boccaccio's famous tales. Conconi, indeed, has
He conceived the chief function of his art to be found many of his best inspirations in the " De-
the harmonious arrangement of his scheme of cameron," among others La Fiammetta and LI Ban-
colour, and the rhythmical and suggestive flow of chetto di Nastagio degli Onesti. They are almost
his lines. Then, again, the rapid succession of his all full of a most delightful inventiveness, and his
ideas will not allow him to tarry over detail in the figures are all stamped with the youthful charm and
ordinary way ; his facture must needs be hurried, grace befitting the stories whence they spring. It
and therefore somewhat incomplete. Hence he has is almost a sin that Conconi, having shown his
reduced his style of drawing, his colouring and his power to enter so completely into the spirit of
brush-work almost to a formula. In everything he these tales, should not undertake the task of illus-
86