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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 6) inscr. on plate below image "Honoratissimus Thomas Dominus Herbert Comes de Pembroke et Montgomery, &c. &c. / Classis Britannicae et Hibernicae summus Proefectus. &c. &c."; inscr. on plate b.l. "W. Wissing pinx."; inscr. on plate b.r. "I. Smith fec."; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "63" CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER WISSING, William; (Dutch; 1653-1687) Part of William Hunter's original bequest, this is one of three volumes together containing 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.
Thomas Herbert, eighth Earl of Pembroke was a moderate court tory politician and government official and was made Lord High Admiral in 1702. He was a patron of the arts and a collector. His portrait is one of a group of Lords and Earls in the volume.
The original portrait 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. Smith engraved 19 of Wissing's portraits. | 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 : ARMOUR : BATON : SWORD : HELMET : SHIP : DUKE OF MONMOUTH : LORD HIGH ADMIRAL : ROYAL SOCIETY : COLLECTOR : 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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