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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 6) inscr. on plate below image "His Excellency John, Duke of Marlborough, Marquis of Blanford, Earl of Marlborough, Baron Churchill, of Sandridge and Baron Churchill of Aumouth; Captain General of all Her Majesty's / Forces; Master-General of the Ordnance; One of ye Lords of Her Majesty's most Honourainscr. on plate b.l.e Privy-Council, / and Knight of the most Noinscr. on plate b.l.e Order of the Garter. Her Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary, and - Plenipotentiary to the States General of the United Provinces and General of the Confederate Armies."; inscr. on plate b.l. "G. Kneller S.R. Imp. & Angl. Eques Aur. pinx. 1705"; inscr. on plate b.c. "I. Smith fec."; inscr. on plate b.r. "Sold by I. Smith at ye Lyon & Crown in Russel street Covent Garden."; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "42" CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER KNELLER, Godfrey, Sir; (English; 1646-1723) 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.
Smith's close association with leading portrait painter Kneller, author of this portrait, was key to his success. From around 1690 almost all engravings after portraits by Kneller, were executed by Smith.
John Churchill, first Duke of Marlborough was an army officer and statesman. This print is among a group of portraits of aristocrats in this volume. Portraits of the Duke's son and daughters, also by Kneller, are included in volume two. Smith also engraved a series of paintings thought to be by Titian from the Duke's collection (Glaha 16602-16611). | 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 : WIG : ARMOUR : GEORGE : ORDER OF THE GARTER : BARON CHURCHILL : CAPTAIN : FORCES : PRIVY-COUNCIL : KNIGHT : AMBASSADOR : ARMY : 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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