The studio of Luigi Conconi (1852-1917) was close to one of the busiest streets in Milan.
Inspired by the spirit of rebellion and bohemianism of other writers and artists, such as Gautier, Baudelaire, and Poe, he wanted to cultivate a creative space that nourished his bizarre imagination.
A visitor said "It is like the abode of some necromancer of old, with its strange collection of mummified cats and snakes and bats and chameleons, filling all the corners in grotesque and monstrous shapes, and conjuring up all sorts of fear- some fancies."
Coconi designed a clock, where "the sense of horror is conveyed, not so much by the skulls forming the centre part, as by certain of the details which at the first glance might not be noticed. The base of the dial on which the hands are fixed is designed in the shape of a coffin ; the hour and minute hands are formed like finger bones, and the pendulum is a scythe, which, in its oscillations, symbolizes the inexorable reaper of lives."
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"To go into these rooms is like entering into a fabled world of enchantment. Here Conconi lives as it were in his own natural atmosphere; for everything weird and strange seems full of attractiveness and suggestion to him."
He wanted his studio to look like the "home of some old-world alchemist, a terrible place full of whitened skeletons, with screeching owls perched on the lintels of the doors."
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| Art by Luigi Conconi |
Quote is from Studio Magazine, 1893
Luigi Conconi (1852-1917) on Wikipedia
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