Harvard Art Museums > 22.2005: Giacomo Leopardi Prints Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Giacomo Leopardi (Gino Sandri) , 22.2005,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, May 04, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/49587. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 22.2005 People Gino Sandri, Italian (Rossignlione, Genoa, Italy 1892 - 1959) Title Giacomo Leopardi Classification Prints Work Type print Date 1923 Culture Italian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/49587 Physical Descriptions Technique Lithograph Dimensions stone: 40 x 30 cm (15 3/4 x 11 13/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: G. Sandri inscription: lower margin, below left corner of design, black ink over an illegible graphite inscription, hand written, signed, in artist's hand: signature, date: G. Sandri 1923/3 inscription: lower margin below right corner of image, black ink, hand written, in artist's hand: title: --- LEOPARDI --- watermark: interlaced monogram [Arches?] / FRANCE Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Anonymous Loan Object Number 22.2005 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Commentary Sandri has imagined the spiritual portrait of Italy's greatest Romantic poet, Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837), basing his image on lifetime painted portraits of the sickly, melancholic Leopardi. Sandri himself suffered from mental illness: the lithograph is dated to the year preceding his first entrance into an insane asylum. He would be repeatedly hospitalized until his death, in the hospital, in 1937. Sandri's intense image of the author, whose suffering from physical ills and unconsummated loves was the basis for his tragic poetry, must derive some of its affecting introspective mood from the artist's own troubled mind. Sandri's work has received critical attention in Italy, most recently in exhibitions in Milan (2001,S. Ambrogio Museum, "From sufferance to faith") and Rome (2002, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, "Art, madness, a language of the soul"). It seems as if the emphasis was placed on his drawn portraits of fellow patients, as well as his landscapes, which seem to be greatly appreciated by critics. In 1965, the critic L. Bracchi, on the occasion of a posthumous exhibition in Saronno, wrote, "I recall above all his graphic work which is impressive. From a psychological point of view I especially recall the splendid drawings of the lunatics. They are real portraits carried out with a dedication worthy of Dürer. They are precise even if simple pencil drawings. We must not forget his paintings that show his love of nature which he shows simply as if through the eyes of an innocent child, which our friend Sandri was." These sentiments are typical of later criticism as well. This portrait of the dead Leopardi, apparently imagined at night under a grape arbor, embodies the same synthesis of portrait draftsmanship and a sensibility toward nature. Beyond the artistic quality of the image, this is a remarkably sensitive blend of lithographic crayon and tusche, printed with exquisite delicacy on a toned sheet of laid paper. The grain of the paper shows through the expanses of black wash, harmonizing them with the luminous features of the poet, which are realized in crayon. Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
