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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 6) inscr. on plate below image "JOANNES CORNELIUS DUX VENM: CRES: XXII MAij MDCCIX"; inscr. on plate b.l. "Gio Agostino Cassana pinx."; inscr. on plate b.r. "Johannes Smith fecit Londini 1712."; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "49" CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER CASSANA, Giovanni-Agostino; (Italian; 1658-1720) 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.
Giovanni Cornaro was Doge of Venice from 1709 until his death. It is not clear why this print, after a portrait by an Italian painter Giovanni Agostino Cassana, is placed among a group of portraits of British aristocrats in the volume. The ornate border is unusual in Smith's portrait prints. | 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 FRAME : SCROLLS : BRANCHES : ENTABLATURE : COAT OF ARMS : CUSHION : CAP : FUR : PASSAROWITZ : JEAN CORNARO II : 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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