The intelligence and personal sensitivity Silvia Franco brings to the art of printmaking, particularly etching and lino-cut, cannot be overestimated. Originally trained as a sculptor, Ms. Franco has brought her deft skills and deep feeling for the art of sculpture directly into printmaking as if it were an adjunct necessary to accommodate her formidable talent. After a recent firt-time trip to Italy, Ms. Franco immersed herself in etching which yielded a series of prints illuminationg her experience of the great art and culture she came into contact with. These pictures cosisted mainly of montages of images plucked from old masterworks she encountered in the great Italian museums and churches. Infused with her own Castilian artistic sensibility, these etchings translate the great spirit of the renaissance into the visual language of today. If the nature of art is to express the artist’s perception of the world, Silvia Franco has found the perfect medium for her expression in the art of printmaking. One can only imagine the great editions she will create from the inspiring discoveries that are yet to come.