Etching on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
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<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>
Brazen Serpent 1
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: actions
animals: reptiles
arm / arms raised
attacking
Bible: Old Testament
birth to death
contorted
death
diseases and conditions
female
fine art and design, named works
group
groups
male
man
Moses
nudes
Numbers, chapter 21
objects
people
plague
religion and belief
Rubens, Peter Paul, painting, ‘The Brazen Serpent’
snake
snake bite
society
woman
<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 Brazen Serpent</i>, 1635-40, by Peter Rubens (1577-1640), owned by the National Gallery, London. Tate owns three prints by Kossoff after this Rubens painting (Tate P11710-12). 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 second trial proof.</p>
paper print etching
The Brazen Serpent (1)
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
<p>This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> is one of many <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etchings</span></a> executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> by old masters; in this case <i>The Brazen Serpent</i>, 1635-40, by Peter Rubens (1577-1640), owned by the National Gallery, London. Tate owns three prints by Kossoff after this Rubens 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-brazen-serpent-1-p11710" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11710</span></a>-12). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings. This print was never published as an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>edition</span></a>; Tate owns the second trial <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/proof" title="Glossary definition for 'Proof'"><span>proof</span></a>.
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<br/>The Rubens painting depicts a scene from the Old Testament. As a result of their sinfulness, the Israelites were visited with a plague of serpents. A mother holds her baby up for safety while nude figures writhe in terror on the ground. In contrast to the fallen figures at the right, Moses stands with Eleazar to the left of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>, and points upwards, directing the Israelites’ attention to a bronze serpent erected on a pole. (A consequence of the printing process is that this structure is reversed in Kossoff’s etching.) Moses tells the Israelites that if they look at the serpent they will be saved. Kossoff’s response to this painting is a spare, sensuous print. At moments Kossoff’s print varies from the original composition; changing the angle of a face, an arm or a torso. But the overall effect is to emphasise the structure of the earlier work. The Israelites as a body lean towards Moses in despair. In Kossoff’s etching the hatching around their bodies as well as the bodies themselves emphasise this diagonal direction. The figure of Moses is more strongly drawn than those of the sufferers. Kossoff’s print does not compete with Rubens’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 his desire to find points of contact with his forerunner. Kossoff has described the value of this kind of draughtsmanship as a means to building up an acquaintance with the subject of, in his words, ‘getting into’ a picture made by another artist until he feels free to ‘move about in its imaginative spaces’ (Kendall, p.19).
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<br/>Kossoff has taken inspiration from old master paintings 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 Rubens 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.
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<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 <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/aquatint" title="Glossary definition for 'Aquatint'"><span>aquatint</span></a>; in others, lines were emphasised by <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drypoint" title="Glossary definition for 'Drypoint'"><span>drypoint</span></a>. The etchings were printed by Mark Balakjian at Studio Prints, London. 
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<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>Richard Morphet, <i>Encounters: New Art From Old</i>, exhibition catalogue, National Gallery, London 2000, pp.214-35, reproduced p.222 in colour
<br/><i>Past &amp; Present: Contemporary Artists Drawing from the Masters</i>, exhibition catalogue, South Bank Centre, London 1987-8, p.38
<br/>Richard Kendall, <i>Drawn to Painting</i>, London 2000
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<br/>Anna Bright
<br/>September 2005</p>

Summary
2005-12-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
actions: postures and motions adults animals: actions animals: reptiles arm / arms raised attacking Bible: Old Testament birth to death contorted death diseases and conditions female fine art and design, named works group groups male man Moses nudes Numbers, chapter 21 objects people plague religion and belief Rubens, Peter Paul, painting, ‘The Brazen Serpent’ snake snake bite society woman