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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7) title inscr. on plate b.c. "Thomas Killegrew Groome of ye Bedchamber to / King Charles ye Second"; inscr. on plate b.l. "W. Wissing pinxit / I. Vandervaart fec:"; inscr. on plate b.r. "I. Smith Exc" CRE VAARDT, Jan van der; (Dutch; 1647-1721) AFTER WISSING, William; (Dutch; 1653-1687) 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.
This print is after a portrait by Dutch artist Willem Wissing who was an assistant to Sir Peter Lely. After Lely's death he became England's leading portrait painter until his early death at 31. It was engraved by Jan Vandervaart one of the Dutch mezzotinters under whom Smith trained for a time.
Thomas Killigrew was Groom of the bedchamber to Charles II and also a playwright. His portrait, alongside one of his niece, appears toward the end of volume two among other bust length portraits of figures connected with the Royal household. | 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 : ALBUM : OVAL : BEARD : FUR : SWORD : 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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