(Tocco da Casauria 1851 - Francavilla al Mare 1929)
TATONE, 1875
Etching
Titled and signed in the plate. Fine impression on thick wove paper. To the platemark 164 x 115 mm, the full sheet measuring 246 x 163 mm.
A contribution by Francesco Parisi to the study of Francesco Paolo Michetti activity as an etcher has been published in the first volume of the catalogue raisonné dedicated to the artist in 2018. See Francesco Parisi, l'opera incisa di Francesco Paolo Michetti, in Various Authors, Francesco Paolo Michetti. Catalogo generale, Milan, 2018
There are two versions of the portrait entitled Tatone, both etched and both rare.
In his catalogue, Parisi creates some confusion by presenting, at number 100, an example, believed to be a drypoint, while he indicates, without reproducing it, the second version, present at the Bertarelli and Panizzi libraries, as a photoengraving.
The print published by Parisi is in reality another example of the version present at the two institutions.
I have had in my hands examples of both versions of this subject, both in my opinion executed in etching and rare.
Francesco Paolo Michetti was taught at the Accademia in Naples by Morelli, but he also attended the life drawing classes of Filippo Palizzi, who exercised the greatest influence on his development. In 1871 Michetti made his first trip to Paris. There he came in contact with Fortuny, De Nittis and the dealer Goupil and exhibited at the Salons of 1872 and 1875. In 1883 Michetti purchased a convent in his homeland, Abruzzo, as his home and studio. For the next twenty years, the convent was a meeting place for artists and exponents of culture. Abruzzo was Michetti's emotional and aesthetic inspiration: he combined studies from life and extensive photographic documentation, capturing its people, animals, and local events in emotionally charged paintings with luminous colors and vibrant light.
