Luigi Conconi

Luigi Conconi (1852-1917) was a pivotal figure in late nineteenth-century Italian visual culture, active simultaneously as a painter, printmaker, illustrator, and architect. His significance is rooted in his role as a leading voice of the Scapigliatura movement in Milan. This artistic and literary cohort, whose name loosely translates to "the disheveled ones," spearheaded a revolt against the rigid Classicism and academic formalities dominant in the era, favoring instead an aesthetic rooted in emotive realism and psychological depth.

While his architectural practice provided a secure professional foundation, Conconi’s most impactful contributions rest in his graphic output. He was a dedicated printmaker who mastered the demands of etching, producing a remarkably consistent, though highly focused, body of work across his active decades (1862-1908). Conconi’s compositions are distinguished by their intense use of chiaroscuro, creating highly atmospheric scenes that often lean toward introspective melancholy.

His subject matter ranged from intimate studies of individuals, such as Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile, to allegorical visualizations of human states. Notable among these is Intoxication (Ebbrezza), a complex etching that exemplifies the Scapigliatura tendency toward depicting visceral human emotion. Conconi’s meticulous approach to portraiture suggests a deep, nuanced engagement with the internal lives of his sitters, and the recurrence of the title Ada among his known pieces hints at a significant, though often ambiguous, personal connection.

The limited corpus of Luigi Conconi prints, totaling just thirteen known examples, is highly prized for its technical precision and dramatic sensibility. These works are maintained in prestigious collections globally, including the Rijksmuseum and the National Gallery of Art. Thanks to institutional digitization efforts, these powerful images are often in the public domain, offering collectors and scholars access to high-quality prints and downloadable artwork that define the subtle transition in Italian art toward Symbolism.