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PALMA CATHEDERAL, MAJORCA

© The Artist's Estate

PALMA CATHEDERAL, MAJORCA 1937

Wilfred Fairclough (1907 – 1996)

Details

Dimension
16 X 22 CM
Media
ETCHING
Accession number
P2409

Summary

The work was undertaken in March 1936 whilst Fairclough was a Rome Scholar; the school was temporarily closed and the scholars visited Spain just before the start of the Civil War. Campbell Dodgson writing in Fine Prints of the Year (1938) described the work as ‘an elaborate and accurate etching, consistently carried out in closely laid and carefully bitten lines, of which the total effect is a little dull. The reproduction exaggerates some of the darker passages, especially the tracery of the rose windows.’

Glossary

  • Etching

    An intaglio process whereby a metal plate (normally copper, zinc or steel) is covered with an acid-resistant layer of rosin mixed with wax. With a sharp point, the artist draws through this ground to reveal the plate beneath. The plate is then placed in an acid bath (a water and acid solution) and the acid bites into the metal plate where the drawn lines have exposed it. The waxy ground is cleaned off and the plate is covered in ink and then wiped clean, so that ink is retained only in the etched lines. The plate can then be printed through an etching press. The strength of the etched lines depends on the length of time the plate is left in the acid bath.