Rainy night in Rome.

Sir Muirhead Bone (1876-1953) was a Scottish artist known for his piquant drypoint etchings, draughtsmanship and watercolours. Bone originally trained as an architect at the Glasgow School of Art. After initially taking night classes, he turned to printmaking in 1898. Self-taught, his early works likely took the style of those he studied, chiefly Charles Meyron and James Whistler. In 1901 Bone moved to London, quickly gaining a reputation, moving in the same circles as art collector Campbell Dodgson and D.Y. Cameron: a contemporary to Bone in etching and a fellow Scotsman. In 1916, Bone successfully campaigned for the role of the first official British War Artist, filling the position in both World War One and World War Two. Between the World Wars, Bone continued to build up a considerable reputation, exhibiting frequently in both London and New York. A mentor of many young artists, he served as a trustee of the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery and Imperial War Museum. He was knighted in 1937.

Bone's watercolours and lustrous drawings are evidence of his incredible skill in depicting often grim wartime landscapes and human activity. However, it is in his drypoints that we can see his true mastery over architectural detail. His strengths are in rendering line and balance to create dynamic cityscapes, concerned primarily with the existence of buildings in all their states, including the comings and goings of their construction. Bone's architectural training is a fetchingly persistent ‘backbone’ in these works.

From 1910-1912 Bone travelled in Italy, making numerous studies he would later use to create works, such as Rainy night in Rome, which was made in 1913 from a drawing. In the drypoint, the Baroque façade of the church of San Rocco spills light out over various groups of figures that stand near the building. Umbrellas dot the scene, sheltering many in the crowd as they attempt to keep the rain off, such as the priest walking towards the right, and the carriage driver in the centre of the work. The buildings seen on the left are apartments on the other side of the Tiber. The heavy black rain in the upper left quadrant of the work compositionally balances against the church building.

One of Bone’s most famous early prints, it is easy to see why it is also lauded as one of the greatest drypoints of its era. The work is a vivid display of Bone’s talents in employing the different types of line afforded to an artist working in the drypoint medium. The lines of the pavement, carriage, people and their umbrellas are thick and rich; heavy with the ink from the plate’s burr. They contrast against the fine yet densely replicated lines of the falling rain, which deliberately blurs our view of the church (which might normally be dutifully rendered in a piquant manner by the architecturally-trained Bone). We don't regret it - Bone's print is at once dramatic, atmospheric and a technical triumph.

Sources:

The British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=131762