Federico Marioni — Milano - Duomo, c. 1920–1930 — color etching and aquatint on paper

The Duomo of Milan emerges over the square like an almost impossible piece of architecture.

Federico Marioni chooses an oblique view that allows for a simultaneous contemplation of the facade, the interminable lateral development of the building, and the forest of spires that cuts its profile against the sky. At its feet, small figures and carriages cross the square, reduced to a few strokes.

The difference in scale is deliberate: against the enormity of the cathedral, daily life continues, almost diminutive.

Over the meticulous drawing of the architecture, Marioni introduces an intense blue sky and small accents of color on windows and figures. The combination transforms a topographical view of Milan into a much more atmospheric image.

Milan from an engraver's workshop

Marioni knew the city not as a visitor, but as his workplace.

Settled in Milan since the end of the 19th century, he developed much of his career there and founded his own Calcografia di Milano, a workshop that achieved considerable prestige during the first decades of the 20th century.

The city and its monuments became natural motifs for his work.

In Milano - Duomo, documentary interest coexists with a sensibility very different from photography. Each spire, buttress, and window has been constructed through an enormous accumulation of lines, but the sky and the color introduce a much freer dimension.

It is not just about registering what the building is like. Marioni also attempts to preserve how it appears to someone entering the square.

A particular way of working with color

One of the most interesting aspects of Federico Marioni's production was precisely his treatment of color prints.

The artist developed a personal printing procedure with which he could obtain chromatic variations between different copies from the same matrix. The result could acquire an appearance close to watercolor or monotype, moving away from the habitual uniformity of a mechanical run.

On this sheet, it is especially visible in the sky: the blue does not function as a simple flat fill, but as an irregular and atmospheric surface, with denser areas and others deliberately left open.

The small reddish and bluish touches distributed through the windows then add depth to an architecture dominated by earth tones, blacks, and whites.

Federico Marioni

Federico Marioni (Claro, 1866 – Milan, 1938) was an engraver, lithographer, and printer.

After beginning his training in Switzerland, he worked for several years in Paris and later spent time in Turin before settling permanently in Milan around 1893.

There he opened the Calcografia di Milano, from where he carried out activities both as an independent engraver and as a printer for other artists.

Architecture and cities occupied a prominent place within his production. Milan, Venice, Rome, Florence, and various Italian towns appear repeatedly in his etchings and aquatints, generally treated with a combination of drawing precision and atmospheric color effects.

His work is currently represented in Italian public collections, including the Civiche Raccolte Grafiche e Fotografiche of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan.

Technical sheet

Author: Federico Marioni
Title: Milano - Duomo
Chronology: circa 1920–1930
Technique: Color etching and aquatint on paper
Dimensions: 24 × 20 cm
Signature: Signed in pencil in the lower right margin
Inscription: "Milano - Duomo" in pencil in the lower left margin
Subject: Milan Cathedral and Piazza del Duomo
School: Italian
Period: First half of the 20th century
Condition: Uneven state of preservation. It shows general aging of the support, stains, and a significant water mark in the upper right sector, in addition to a tear or fissure in the upper margin that reaches that area. The image maintains, however, a good general legibility and intense coloration.

Workshop Note

There is something particularly attractive about these old city prints: they show monuments that we still recognize immediately, but they return them to a completely different world.

In front of Marioni's Duomo, carriages still circulate. Figures cross an open square slowly, and the enormous Gothic architecture seems to occupy almost the entire horizon.

But perhaps the most interesting thing is the color.

Marioni turned engraving into something less repeatable than usual. His ink and color variations meant that copies from the same matrix could acquire their own personality. On this sheet, the great blue sky transforms an extremely precise architectural view into a surprisingly luminous image.