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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 6) inscr. on plate below image "William Petty Knt. / Fellow of the Royall Society / Obijt 16. Decr. 1687. Anno AEtat: 63."; inscr. on plate b.l. "I. Closterman pinx:"; inscr. on plate b.r. "I. Smith fec: et ex:"; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "92"
CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER CLOSTERMAN, Johann; (German; 1660-1711) 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, included in the volume among a group of men of achievements in the worlds of medicine, art, literature, science or the military toward the end of volume one, is after a portrait by John Closterman, a German artist who developed a successful career painting portraits in London, a high point being a commission to paint Queen Anne.
William Petty was a politician and a physician who was fascinated in the human body. He was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society. The print was published several years after his death. | 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 : WIG : OVAL : ROYAL SOCIETY : SIR : PHYSICIAN : IRELAND : 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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