Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile c. 1884

Luigi Conconi created this etching, *Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile*. Its composition is immediately striking, dominated by a dense network of etched lines that coalesce to form the subject’s features, emerging from a darker background with a rather melancholic sensibility. Conconi’s use of line is not merely descriptive but structural. The varying densities and directions of the lines define the contours of the woman's face, creating a sense of depth and volume. The profile view, a classical pose, is here rendered with a modern sensibility through the energetic, almost frantic, mark-making. This technique reflects a broader artistic interest in the materiality of the medium. The rough texture and the visible process of the etching become integral to the artwork's meaning. Rather than presenting a polished, idealized image, Conconi embraces the raw, unfinished quality of the etched line. This challenges traditional notions of portraiture, inviting us to contemplate the process of representation itself and suggesting that identity is constructed through layers of perception.