Un Amphitéâtre à Rome

Etching, signed and dated in plate at upper left in the image. Beyond image in upper right corner number 470, below lettered "A. Piccinni pinx. et sc,"  the title and "V.ve A. Cadart Edit. Imp. 56 B.ard Haussmann. Paris." This plate was published in L'Illustration Nouvelle, an album edited by Maison Cadart in March 1879.

Excellent impression with slight toning effect, printed on laid paper. Very good condition. Wide margins beyond the platemark.

The subject can be traced back to a group of works belonging to the first etchings of invention made by the artist, all have for subjects characters and situations captured during his stay in Rome. In this print we see twelve spectators at the theater who lean out from the balcony to better observe the representation. Thanks to powerful chiaroscuro effects they emerge from the dark background and their meticulously studied faces are illuminated by the theatrical lights of the limelight.  The lights also whitewash the two pillars with capitals that break the linear and perspective trend facing left of the surface of the balcony. Just the effect of light and the point of observation from below up turns the faces into a series of masks suggesting a psychological analysis of the "theater types". 

Piccinni was one of the European artists who were responsible for the rebirth of the original etching. Experimenter of the new possibilities related to the photographic medium, he is among the first in Italy to use the photoengraving between 1874 and 1886. The themes addressed by Piccinni show the constant attention to the simplest gestures of everyday life, individuals are represented as models of social categories.