E.144 Colleoni II 2007

• I. 1st state of 3

  

  Etching. A rear view of Andrea del Verrocchio’s statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, viewed from below and to the right, with the top of its pedestal visible. The actual orientation of the monument has been reversed in printing. There is an irregular curved scratch immediately above the horse’s head. The background is stained with areas of foul biting.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-1’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

• II. 2nd state of 3

  The curved scratch above the horse’s head has been removed and the foul biting substantially burnished. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression with light grey plate tone, on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-2’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.
  2. Heavily inked impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-3’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-3’, this is an impression of the second state.

• III. 3rd and final state

  The remainder of the foul biting on the plate has been further burnished.

  Cleanly wiped impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-4’; lower centre: ‘Colleoni II’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-4’, this is the third and final state.

• Edition, 2007

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches 250 gsm paper, printed by Martin King at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), October 2007. The edition included a bon à tirer impression, an artist’s proof, two APW workshop proofs, and a presentation proof. Each impression is inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘[status of impression]’ [or] ‘[1 through 10]/10’; lower centre: ‘Colleoni II’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Chop mark embossed in lower right corner: ‘APW [within a horizontal rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 380 x 280 mm

• Edition impression, 2007 (Featured Image)

  

  The remainder of the foul biting on the plate has been further burnished.

• Comment

  This is the second of Amor’s two etchings depicting Andrea del Verrocchio’s bronze statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, the first being Colleoni (cat. no. E.139), in which the monument is seen from the front. Like E.139, the present etching was drawn directly onto the plate, in front of the subject, whose orientation was reversed in printing.

  In depicting the statue of Colleoni, Amor chose an unusual viewpoint because he liked to represent familiar subjects in uncharacteristic ways but also because he wanted to take up the challenge of foreshortening. He had frequently adopted a similar approach when depicting the sculptural monuments of Melbourne.