Etching on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/leon-kossoff-1436" aria-label="More by Leon Kossoff" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Leon Kossoff</a>
Consecration Saint Nicholas 1
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
actions: postures and motions
adults
angel
crosier
fine art and design, named works
group
groups
Judaeo-Christian imagery
kneeling
man
mitre
objects
ordination
people
religion and belief
religious and ceremonial
Saints
St Nicholas
universal religious imagery
Veronese, painting, ‘The Consecration of Saint Nicholas’
<p>This print is one of many etchings executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil paintings by old masters; in this case <i>The Consecration of Saint Nicholas</i>, around 1562, by Paulo Veronese (c.1528-88), owned by the National Gallery, London. Tate owns two prints by Kossoff after this Veronese painting (Tate P11713-14). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making drawings and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings. This print was never published as an edition; Tate owns the eighth of fifteen trial proofs.</p>
paper print etching
The Consecration of Saint Nicholas (1)
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
<p>This print is one of many etchings executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil paintings by old masters; in this case <i>The Consecration of Saint Nicholas</i>, around 1562, by Paulo Veronese (c.1528-88), owned by the National Gallery, London. Tate owns two prints by Kossoff after this Veronese painting (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kossoff-the-consecration-of-saint-nicholas-1-p11713" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11713</span></a>-14). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making drawings and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings. This print was never published as an edition; Tate owns the eighth of fifteen trial proofs.
<br/>
<br/>Veronese’s painting depicts a scene from the life of Saint Nicholas, as told in the thirteenth-century book <i>The Golden Legend</i>. On the eve of the election of the archbishop of Myra in Lycia (Asia Minor) in the 4th century AD, it was revealed to one of the bishops that a young man called Nicholas had been divinely chosen. When Saint Nicholas presented himself at the cathedral the following day he was elected and immediately installed as archbishop. Veronese has portrayed the moment of Nicholas's recognition, or subsequent consecration. Nicholas approaches the altar while an angel descends from the sky, bearing the vestments of office: a bishop’s stole, crozier (staff) and mitre. Kossoff’s response to this painting is densely drawn. Aquatint and drypoint have been added to give tonal depth and variation. The plate has been inked and then wiped to accentuate the principal characters. A consequence of the printing process is that the image is a reverse of Veronese’s original. Kossoff’s print does not compete with Veronese’s painting, nor does it seek to transcribe, copy or paraphrase it. Rather, it acknowledges the gulf that separates it from the pictorial culture of former times and reveals Kossoff’s desire to find points of contact with his forerunner. He has described the value of this kind of draughtsmanship as a means to building up an acquaintance with the subject of a picture made by another artist until he feels free to ‘move about in its imaginative spaces’ (Kendall, p.19).
<br/>
<br/>Kossoff has made drawings after paintings by Veronese  and other old masters at The National Gallery for most of his life, since first visiting it in the late 1940s. His commitment to drawing has resulted in a decades-long dialogue with Veronese and others. For Kossoff, drawing is rooted in close observation of, and is a way of getting closer to, the subject being drawn. It involves going beyond the observed: forming a relation with the motif at a deeper level, a process involving the growth of understanding and sympathy. He sees the act of drawing as a reciprocal process; thus making graphic transcriptions of images by older artists is his way of bonding more closely with them, exploring their mysteries and celebrating their power.
<br/>
<br/>The etching plates were prepared by Ann Dowker, a London artist who later collaborated with Kossoff on biting the plates with acid, wiping them before printing, and making trial proofs. In some cases, areas of the etchings were washed with aquatint; in others, lines were emphasised by drypoint. The etchings were printed by Mark Balakjian at Studio Prints, London. 
<br/>
<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/><i>Past &amp; Present: Contemporary Artists Drawing from the Masters</i>, exhibition catalogue, South Bank Centre, London 1987-8, pp.38-41
<br/>Paul Moorhouse, <i>Leon Kossoff</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1996, pp.27-30
<br/><i>Leon Kossoff: Recent Paintings</i>, exhibition catalogue, British Council, Venice 1995
<br/>
<br/>Anna Bright
<br/>September 2005</p>

Summary
2006-01-25T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
actions: postures and motions adults angel crosier fine art and design, named works group groups Judaeo-Christian imagery kneeling man mitre objects ordination people religion and belief religious and ceremonial Saints St Nicholas universal religious imagery Veronese, painting, ‘The Consecration of Saint Nicholas’