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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7) title inscr. on plate b.c. "The Dutchess of Cleaveland"; inscr. on plate b.l. "P. Lilly Eques pinx:"; inscr. on plate b.c. "J.S ex:"; inscr. on plate b.r. "Beckett fe:" CRE BECKETT, Isaac; (English; 1653-1688) AFTER LELY, Peter, Sir (Pieter van der Faes); (Dutch; 1618-1680) PUB SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) 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.
Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland was the wife of Roger Palmer, Earl of Castlemaine and the acknowledged mistress of Charles II during the 1660s. She held great influence at court and a series of portraits of her by leading painter Peter Lely, such as this, established her fame as a court beauty.
This 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. 32 of them appear in these three volumes, providing a context for Smith's own mezzotints. | 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 : THREE-QUARTER LENGTH : ALBUM : OVAL : NECKLACE : PEARL : EARRING : SIR WILLIAM VILLIERS : ROGER PALMER : CHARLES, EARL OF CASTLEMAINE : BEAU FIELDING : 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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