Una Dama Admirable

Artist Guillermo Silva Santamaria (b. 1921)

MediumEtching and aquatint on paper

Dimensions46 x 54.2 cm

ClassificationsPrint

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by Guillermo Silva Santamaria (the Artist), 1984.

Object number1681.03

DescriptionThis is a colour intaglio print (etching and aquatint) on paper with hand painted additions, depicting a woman and three children riding on a unicorn's back jumping or flying over a landscape. The woman has five breasts and no arms and one of the children appears to have three faces. Three bird-like creatures follow them. The copper plates used in this print are not square or rectangular but rather cut to the shape of image; five plates have been used, one for the unicorn and it's passengers, three for the birds and one for the ground below them. The plates have then been inked up using the á la poupée method, whereby different coloured inks are used simultaneously on the same plate. Hand colouring is also used in this print, where the artist directly paints onto the surface of the print. Not visible in the image shown here are two little characters printed below the main print, each are printed from a separate piece of copper cut to their shape, the same creatures can be seen again below the print entitled Piúata.

Guillermo Silva Santamaria was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1921. At the age of 16, he studied painting under French Impressionist Pierre Daguet. In the years to follow, he traveled in the United States and France and continued his studies. He established a workshop for stained glass in Colombia in 1949, and taught drawing the following year in Bogota. While living in Mexico City, during the 1960s, as a Master Engraver, he taught engraving at UNAM and the Ibéro-Americain University. While there he developed the technique of Intaglio and "Mixed Technique" etching with watercolor.

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