San Giminiano

Etching, circa 1917, unsigned. Exemple numbered in pencil at lower left (2/8).

Work not listed by Paolo Bellini and Alessia Alberti’, who describe other views of San Gimignano dated between 1917 and 1918.

Mostly known as an engraver, Benvenuto Disertori (Trento, 16 February 1887 – Milan, 22 January 1969) also created beautiful woodcuts, etchings and drypoint and burin drawings. His works were showcased at Munich’s International Exhibition and Venice’s Biennale.

Furthermore, he combined his passion for art with great inclination for music: as a remarkable musicologist and musical paleographer, he studied and brought back to life unpublished and almost unknown sheets from the 1500s and 1600s. He deciphered and transcribed ancient music and collected a number of musical instruments, now kept at the Sforza Castle and at Milan’s Science and Technology Museum.

About Disertori, Carlo Tridenti – who for years was an art critic for “Giornale d’Italia”, Rome’s leading daily in the first half of the 20th century, wrote:

“He reveals a strong preference for old and solitary places, for the center of cities in Tuscany and Umbria where he carefully interprets the distinctive marks left by men and time, the houses and trees on the vanishing line towards the distant hills. It’s classic: shape is reduced to its primordial element, to lines, and clearly defined borders are the most fitting expressive means to convey the beauty of nature” (translated from “La Fiorentina Primaverile”, Florence 1922, pp. 86-87).

Reference:

Paolo Bellini; Alessia Alberti, Benvenuto Disertori. Catalogo Ragionato dell'opera grafica e degli ex libris, n. 23, p. 35, 2000