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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7) title inscr. on plate b.c. "Guilielmus Wissing / Inter Pictores sui Saeculi celeberrimos nulli secundus, Artis suae non Exiguum Decus & Ornamentum / Obyt Sept: 10 An: At: 31 Dni. 1687 / iImmodicis brevis est Atlas._"; inscr. on plate b.l. "W Wissing pinx:"; s. on plate b.r. "I. Smith fe:" CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER WISSING, William; (Dutch; 1653-1687) Part of William Hunter's original bequest, this is one of three volumes which together contain 488 mezzotints, almost all made or published by John Smith. About two thirds are portraits of eminent late Stuart, early Hanoverian persons, and one third fancy and mythological subjects.
Instrumental in raising the standard of mezzotint portraits, Smith was the first British printmaker to gain a European reputation, and examples of his work were essential for any serious early to mid 18th century European print collection.
Hunter's set of volumes is a rare surviving example of a comprehensive collection of mezzotints compiled in the 1730s.
Willem Wissing was a Dutch portrait artist who settled in England as assistant to Sir Peter Lely. After Lely's death he became England's leading portrait painter until his early death at 31. Smith engraved 19 of Wissing's portraits. This print after a self portrait, is included in the second volume among a group of portraits of men of distinction from various fields, including politics, art and literature. | License: | http://www.hmag.gla.ac.uk/spirit/rights/ | Publisher: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Rights holder: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Subjects: | PORTRAIT : HALF-LENGTH : OVAL : LACE CRAVAT : LELY : SELF PORTRAIT : PAINTER : EARL OF EXETER : ALBUM : VOLUME : HUNTER VOLUME : | Source: | Hunterian Museum | Creator: | Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow | Identifier: | http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/cgi-bin/... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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