Preziosi frammenti di vita: Enrico Ricci.

Urbino: La Stamperia d'arte Ca' Virginio, printed by Carla Luminati, 2008. Edition limited to 70 copies, of which this is number 12.. Soft cover. New. 36 cm; [16] text pages, and 5 original aquatints with tissue guards, signed and dated by the artist. The whole enclosed in an illustrated printed portfolio numbered by the printer.

Urbino, the small city in Central Italy that once nourished Raphael, is a global center for the art and technique of engraving. Enrico Ricci (b.1925) studied engraving under masters at Urbino's National School of Art and Design. He joined the faculty not long after graduating and taught there throughout his career. Among his achievements, he invented a technique of impressing gold or copper leaf into the printed image as an integral part of the design. The portfolio offered here includes fresh prints from three unpublished traditional plates Ricci made in 1948, as well as two plates from 2000 incorporating the metallic leaf process. All plates were printed in 2008 by Ricci in the Ca' Virginio print shop in Urbino. A biographical sketch and a poem in prose by Mario Luzi in appreciation of Ricci round out the portfolio. English translations accompany the texts.