|
Date: |
|
Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7) title inscr. on plate b.c. "Jacobus II dus D.G. Anglia Scotia / Francice & Hibernia Rex."; inscr. on plate b.l. "N de Largilierre pinx:"; inscr. on plate b.r. "I. Smith ex." CRE BECKETT, Isaac; (English; 1653-1688) AFTER LARGILLIERE, Nicolas de; (French; 1656-1746) 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.
James II reigned from 1685 until the invasion of William of Orange in 1688. This portrait is after a painting by Largillierre, one of the most sought-after portraitists of the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Paris. The print was made by Smith's teacher Beckett, one of the earliest English mezzotinters and many of whose plates Smith bought and republished after his death, providing a context for his own work. Smith engraved a larger, reversed version of the print which is included in the first volume. This one is one of a group of royal portraits toward the end of volume two. | 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 : HEAD : ALBUM : OVAL : LACE CRAVAT : RIBBONS : ARMOUR : KING : 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 |
|
|