(Cappelle sul Tavo 1940–2019 Spoltore)
Untitled, 1992, dated with inscription on the reverse, color impasto on board, gold-silver leaf with tapered frame on three sides, 120 x 120 x 3 cm

This work is accompanied by a photo certificate of authenticity signed by the artist

We are grateful to Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia for the support in cataloguing this work.

This work is being offered for sale from an offsite location and is not in Dorotheum, Vienna. This sale is subject to the condition subsequent of the completion of a lawful transport of the object into Austria.

Provenance:
Galleria Massimo Minini, Brescia
European Private Collection (acquired from the above)

Exhibited:
Brescia, Ettore Spalletti, Galleria Massimo Minini,
October – December 1992

"Color is built on the reality of white,” states Spalletti with a clear and terse formula. Following his own experimentation, Spalletti develops a color paste (impasto) by mixing white with pigments.
This chromatic matter is spread, dried, and sandpapered in successive layers to form, in the artist’s words, “uno sfumato aptico” (a haptic sfumato)—the word sfumato, which is quite untranslatable, refers to the hazy sensation that emanates from the landscapes in the background of da Vinci’s paintings.
This daily process, which can last several weeks, determines a relationship to time that is constitutive of creation. A “time of work”— and “at work”—that is specific to Spalletti’s world, in which life prolongs and is inextricably linked to creation.

Valérie Da Costa (ed.), Ettore Spalletti: Time Out and Timeless, Mousse Publishing, Milan - Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, 2020, p. 212