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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscription "ILLUSTRISSIMO PRINCIPI / JOHANNI DUCI de MARLBOROUGH / S.R. IMPERII PRINCIPI / Marchioni de Blandford, Comiti de Marlborough, / Baroni Churchill de Sandrich, & Aymouth: / Copiarum BRITANNICARUM Archistratego: / Rei Tormentariæ Præfecto: / Majestati Regiæ à Secretioribus Consilijs: / Nobilissimi Ordinis à Periscelide Equiti: / apud Ordines Foederati Belgij Oratori, / Legatoque Extraordinario: / et Confoederatorum Exercituum Imperatori: / &c. &c. &c. / IX hasce Tabulas Melanographicas ad Architypos / totidem celeberrimi TITIANI factas (Quorum sin- / guli 12 pedes alti, & 8 circitèr lati, in Corio deaurato / depicti, Parergis, hujusce Tituli ad instar, ipso Auro / illuminatis, Ornati sunt) Nobilissimæ Pinacothecæ, in / Ædibus suis Augustissimis de BLENHEIM, in Agro Oxon- / iensi, partem Apparatûs non indignam / Dicat, Dedicat, Consecrat / Celsitudinis suæ / observantissimus / Johannes Smith."; inscr. on plate b.l. "Titianus Pinxit"; inscr. on plate b.r. "G. Vertue. Sculp" CRE VERTUE, George; (English; 1684-1756) AFTER TITIAN (Tiziano Vecelli); (Italian; 1480/85-1576) 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. The remaining third are subject prints after a wide range of artists and subjects, from mythological and religious scenes after old Italian and Dutch and Flemish masters such as Titian and Rubens to fancy subjects after contemporary French and English painters.
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 first half of the 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 a frontispiece to Smith's set of nine prints after 'The Loves of the Gods' then attributed to Titian. It is dedicated to the paintings' owner, the great collector and patron of the arts, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) whose portrait appears in the first volume (Glaha 16380). The print, also based on designs by Titian, was engraved by English printmaker George Vertue who had studied in Godfrey Kneller's Academy of Painting and Drawing. | 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: | TITLE PAGE : ANTIQUARIAN : ALBUM : ARCHITECTURAL : MARLBOROUGH : VOLUME : DUKE : DEDICATION : DECORATIVE : BUST : ALLEGORICAL FIGURE : FEMALE : STATUE : ORNATE : SPIRAL COLUMN : PUTTI : THE LOVES OF THE GODS : | 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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