E.148 Corte Berlendis II 2007

• I. 1st state of 8

  

  Burnished aquatint. A view of the alleyway known as Corte Berlendis. Above the passageway is a square opening with a peaked top, through which is seen washing hanging out to dry. In the distance, through the passageway, there are two mooring posts, and beyond them, in the distance, a row of silhouetted trees.

  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 8

  More burnishing has been applied to the washing at the upper centre, the wall at left, the flagstones, the light horizontal strip above the passageway, the view through the passageway, and the arc of light to the left of the passageway.

  Dry, unevenly printed impression 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’. This impression has a paper loss at the upper left, to the left of the peaked opening.

• III. 3rd state of 8

  

  Further burnishing has been applied to many areas of the plate in order to achieve strong tonal contrasts and to clarify the architectural details.

  Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, outside the plate mark: left margin: ‘1-3’; right margin (lower right to upper right): signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.

   

   

• IV. 4th state of 8

  More burnishing has been applied in the upper third of the plate: in the area under the peaked ‘window’ opening and to the topmost strip of burnishing. The flagstones on the ground have been better defined by lightening with the burnisher. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. 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 right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’.
  2. Impression on wove paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-5’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-5’, this is an impression of the fourth state.

• V. 5th state of 8

  

  The view into the distance beyond the passageway has been completely burnished away and is now an empty white rectangle. Other details of the composition have also been burnished, including the architectural details to the left of the opening, the thick horizontal strip above it, the column at right and the view beyond the square opening, which is now substantially lighter.

  Impression on wove Hahnemühle paper with watermark, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-6’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-6’, this is the fifth state.

   

   

• VI. 6th state of 8

  

  Aquatint has been added. The figure of a man, etched with aquatint, is now depicted walking through the passageway, casting a long vertical shadow that falls on the flagstones. The view through the opening above has been burnished to lighten the tones, to make the tonal transitions smoother, and to balance the rectangle of light flooding through the passageway.

  Impression on wove Hahnemühle paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-7’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-7’, this is the sixth state.

• VII. 7th state of 8

  

  The walking man has been burnished, making him appear as though he is dissolving against the light; his shadow has also been burnished. Roulette work has been applied in a dark strip at the top of the pavement and, more sparsely, to the flagstones below it.

  Impression on wove Hahnemühle paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-8’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-8’, this is the seventh state.

• VIII. 8th and final state

  Drypoint strokes have been added to many areas of the lower two-thirds of the plate, including the walking figure, both sides of the passageway, the masonry at left, and the pavement. The pavement now appears distinctly concave. There are two variant impressions of this state.

  1. Impression, cleanly wiped in the lower part, on wove Hahnemühle paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘1-9’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘1-9’, this is an impression of the eighth and final state. (Featured Image)
  2. Dark impression on wove Hahnemühle paper, printed by Martin King at the Venice Printmaking Studio, Venice. Inscribed in pencil, below the plate mark: lower left: ‘2-9’; lower centre: ‘Corte Berlendis II’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Although inscribed ‘2-9’, this is an impression of the eighth and final state.

• VIII.a. 8th and final state (Featured Image)

  

  Drypoint strokes have been added to many areas of the lower two-thirds of the plate, including the walking figure, both sides of the passageway, the masonry at left, and the pavement. The pavement now appears distinctly concave. There are two variant impressions of this state.

• Edition, 2007

  Edition of ten numbered impressions, on wove Velin Arches paper, printed by Rosalind Atkins at the Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy (Melbourne), between June and December 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: ‘Corte Berlendis II’; lower right: signed and dated ‘R Amor 07’. Chop mark embossed in lower right corner: ‘APW [within a rectangle]’.

  Edition sheet size: 380 x 280 mm

• Artist’s proof (from edition, 2007; impression of 8th and final state, with plate tone)

  

• Comment

  This is the second of two prints whose subject is Corte Berlendis, a small alleyway or courtyard in the Cannaregio district of Venice. The other work is Corte Berlendis (cat. no. E.142), which depicts the subject from the opposite direction. E.148 is based on an undated pencil drawing in Amor’s large Venice Sketchbook, and was subsequently used as the modello for an oil, painted later in 2007. Amor was attracted to Corte Berlendis for the simple geometry of its decaying architecture.

  E.148 went through considerable changes across its eight states. In the first four states, it incorporated a view, through the opening, over the waters of the lagoon, as Amor had recorded it in his pencil drawing. In the fifth state, the view of the lagoon was completely burnished away, and, in the following state, a figure was added. In the last two states, Amor focused largely on the optical effects created by the figure walking into the light. As with the earlier Corte Berlendis subject, he also experimented with plate tone while making this work, printing some impressions with so much ink that many of the architectural details are not visible. This is the case, for example, with the second impression of the final state (VIII.b).

  Amor’s painting of the subject, made after the etching, amalgamated details from the early and late states. It includes both the landscape seen through the opening and the walking figure.