Code: 10121
Dimensions:
ROMEO COSTETTI Florence 1871 - 1957 Rome
A Figure in Venetian Carnival Costume.
Monotype in colors; circa 1930. Signed in pencil lower right.
Costetti is known for his portraits and his large monotypes which he executed from circa 1913 through the 1930s and 1940s. His unusual approach to this deceptively difficult medium is evident in our example. Carnival masquerade scenes are his most memorable subjects.
In the making of monotypes, a medium whose first examples appear in the seventeenth century, the artist applies pigment directly to a plate, usually copper, although sometimes glass plates were used. The pigment can be applied with a brush or with fingers, and then manipulated to create effects of opacity, transparency, or variations in light-dark values.
The medium is thus intensely personal and painterly.
Costetti’s monotypes show an unusual technical virtuosity. He applied areas of saturated color giving brilliant chromatic effects. In other areas the artist must have thinned his pigments and wiped away pigment to create transparent areas and passages of varied textures. The sumptuous costume of our monotype enhances the mysterious character of his carnival images; our young woman all but disappears behind her carnival dress, but she has lifted her mask and confronts the viewer directly. Thus conceived, the monotype invites the viewer to contemplate the psychology of masquerade and identity.
Sight size: 20 x 17 inches
