Title: An Extraordinary Chiaroscuro Watermark of Raphael's "Madonna Del Cardellino" by Cartiere Miliani Fabriano
Description: Milan, Italy: Cartiere Miliani Fabriano, circa 1950's. [1950]. [1950]. - A rich chiaroscuro watermark picturing Raphael's painting "Madonna del Cardellino" or "Madonna of the Goldfinch" by Cartiere Miliani Fabriano. The 12-1/2 inch in diameter image is centered on 17 inch high by 14-7/8 inch wide cotton fiber paper with the firm's name watermarked along the bottom left of the sheet. The image itself richly reproduces the upper two-thirds of Raphael's painting depicting the young seated Virgin Mary, centered between Jesus and the young John the Baptist, an open book in her hand. The details of the background, including trees and the houses and buildings of a distant town with towering mountains, are reproduced in fine detail. There are minor creases to the edges, else near fine.
"In this method of watermarking [chiaroscuro watermarking] the principle involves the expression of an image in terms of tone and/or light and shade, as opposed to simply a line mark. The watermark artist first carves his image in a relief block. In the earliest experiments this was engraved on a metal plate. Today mechanisation has meant that more complicated procedures must be followed. The sculptor carves his work onto a wax block only some 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick. A plaster cast is taken of the work from which a die and matrix (male and female) are produced. The relief design is then impressed into the wire cloth of a wove mould before it is attached to the mould, forming the undulations in its surface. When the sheet is formed heavier and lighter deposits of pulp are distributed in the relief areas of the mould." "Cartiere Miliani Fabriano is notable today for its skill in and widespread use of the chiaroscuro watermarking method. Considerable expertise is needed to make the relief and at this mill a special department employs watermarking artists who sculpt blocks up to 8 inches by 10 inches in size. Exquisite detail and varying tones previously unimaginable in a sheet of paper can be achieved with this process." - [Quoted from "Handmade Paper Today: a worldwide survey of mills, papers, techniques and uses" by Sylvie Turner and Birgit Skiold].
A recent exhibition "The Art of Watermarks" at the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum at Georgia Tech featured another super chiaroscuro watermark by Cartiere Miliani Fabriano, this one a reproduction of Raphael's "Madonna della Sedia". Fine .
Keywords: ART; PRINT; PAPERMAKING; CARTIERE MILIANI FABRIANO; CHIAROSCURO WATERMARK; LARGE; RAPHAEL; MADONNA DEL CARDELLINO; MADONNA OF THE GOLDFINCH; WATERMARKING; TWENTIETH CENTURY; 20TH CENTURY; PRINTING; ART OF WATERMARKS; ORIGINAL PRINT.
- Book number: 36119
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