Mattia Jona, Master Drawings and Prints, Japanese Prints - Piazzetta Guastalla 5, 20122 Milan, Italy, tel (+39) 02 8053315

RENZO VESPIGNANI (Rome 1924 - 2001) I RIMPIANTI DELLA BELLA ELMIERA (The 'Regrets of the Belle Heaulmiére', inspired by François Villon's poem)
Soft ground etching, 1976. Numbered, signed and dated by the artist in pencil '93/100 Vespignani 76'. A very good impression, from the edition of 100, with full margins, in very good condition. On wove paper with watermark 'Vespignani'. Stamped on the verso by the publisher Raffaele Bandini. To the platemark 480 x 317 mm, the entire sheet measuring 706 x 500 mm.

Vespignani was a painter and a skilful printmaker. He began to draw in 1944, recording the ravages of German-occupied Rome. After the war Vespignani contributed illustrations to political and literary journals, and in 1956 he co-founded 'Citta Aperta', a magazine dedicated to urban culture. By this time his work had begun to center on life in the harsh neighborhoods of Rome's periphery, displaying an affinity with the films and literature of Italian Neorealism. During the 1960s he was affiliated with the group 'il Pro e il Contro', which sought to develop a new critically and intellectually engaged figural art.