Mary Magdalene Ascends Printmaking By Jerry Di Falco

Year:

Medium:

Etching Print

Size - (USA):

16 W x 20 H x 1 D (inches)

Size - (metric):

40.6 W x 50.8 H x 2.5 D (centimeters)

Theme:

Mystical

Edition:

Original

Artwork ID:

630413

PDF Copy:

Artwork Info Sheet (PDF)

Artwork Description:

This etching by Jerry Mazur Di Falco was based on three of his drawings that were all inspired by an illustration in THE SFORZA HOURSfrom the British Library, London, Add. MS 34294. Media for this First Edition etching includes oil base etching ink on RivesBFK white paper. The image size, or the size of the zinc plate used, is ten inches high by eight inches wide. The paper size is about fifteen by twelve to thirteen inches. The work comes framed and matted in a semi-ornate wood frame that measures twenty inches by sixteen inches. Nine plate workings were required before Di Falco was satisfied with his design. The studio techniques of intaglio and drypoint were employed. Moreover, the etching was done in a Nitric Acid bath, alone with several burnishes and plate polishings. One can see the ascent of Magdalene after her death. She is veiled in her own hair and surrounded by four angels. The work also shows French fishermen and the cave in which Mary nursed her child with Christ. This work will have five editions, each one limited to only four etchings. The different editions will employ different ink and paper combinations. Di Falco hand printed the work on a Charles Brand press at The Center for Works on Paper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is a part of The Fleisher Art Memorial OPEN STUDIO IN PRINTMAKING. This is an unstructured printing course for professional artists, and Di Falco mentors the artists and also acts as a studio-monitor. Fleisher is associated with The Philadelphia Museum of Art. History --The Sforza Hours are a colorful book of hours commissioned by Bona Sforza, the widow of Galeazzo Sforza who was the Duke of Milan in 1490. The artist was Giovanni Pietro Birago, and moreover the book has a complicated history involving art theft and clerical intrigue. The illustrations were later finished under the patronage of Margaret of Austria. According to the website https en. wikipedia. org wiki Sforza_Hours, “Margaret... the daughter of the Habsburg Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, moved to the Netherlands in 1506 as Regent for her nephew Charles and there she became one of the great patrons of the Northern Renaissance.... In 1517 she instigated the completion of the Sforza Hours. Gerard Horenbout was commissioned to paint 16 miniatures and two borders... but the book did not resurface until 1871, when C. J. Robinson acquired it from a priest in Madrid for eight hundred pounds. It was then sold to John Malcolm of Poltalloch who presented it to the British Museum, now the British Library, in 1893 shortly before his death.”

Artwork Keywords:   Ascension, Magdalene, Companion Of Christ, Sforza Hours, Original Printmaking

Materials:   Etching Prints