Gabriele D'annunzio 1917

Paul-Albert Besnard made this etching of Gabriele D'Annunzio and it’s all about these scratchy, swirling marks. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the plate, digging into the metal. I imagine Besnard, in his studio, peering intently, trying to capture the essence of his subject in these lines. The texture is everything here. You can see the dense cross-hatching that models D'Annunzio's face, giving him weight and presence. Look at the way the light catches the forehead, and how the dark shadows create this intense mood. I can almost hear him thinking, you know? Besnard is wrestling with form, trying to coax a likeness out of these abstract marks. I think of Rembrandt, or Goya. It’s like they’re all in this conversation across time, pushing and pulling at the medium, trying to find new ways to see and feel.