Portrait of the Artist's Second Wife (Ritratto della seconda moglie) 1903

Curator: Before us is Giovanni Fattori’s "Portrait of the Artist's Second Wife," made in 1903. It’s a delicate etching, almost a whisper of an image. Editor: It feels so introspective, almost melancholy. I imagine her lost in thought, or perhaps just tired. There's something about the downward gaze that conveys a sense of resignation. Curator: Right, etching is an interesting medium here, enabling very fine lines, crucial in delineating emotion, in revealing both tenderness and perhaps world-weariness in his rendering of her face. We're looking at a print, after all— a product of labor and the application of technical skill, produced, consumed, traded. The material process gives way to mass distribution. Editor: That's a cold take. But okay, maybe this etching represents both a physical impression and an emotional imprint. I imagine him hunched over the plate, imprinting every line, trying to catch a piece of her soul. Did their marriage reflect his inner torments or something? Did their interaction reflect the labor of creating the print? Curator: Biographical speculations aside, we do know Fattori married his second wife at an older age. One cannot discount the possibility that she represented a stabilizing influence amidst the increasingly industrialized processes that overtook Italian print production, threatening traditional modes of artistic labor. The subject then could have been more to her than just what she was at the moment. The etching technique gave way to the reproduction era. Editor: Hmm. Okay, I see what you're getting at, this piece maybe represents an old world on the brink of the new, where technology threatened handmade objects, but personal touch still made an object beautiful, or in this case moving. Curator: Exactly. Perhaps we are really looking at how traditional artistic labour makes peace with impending change. Editor: Okay, now you got my romantic side hooked.