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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "25" ATTR BECKETT, Isaac; (English; 1653-1688) 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 is one of a number of prints in volume three which may be proofs before letters, with no inscribed maker or publisher name. In some cases only their presence in this volume establishes their connection to Smith. This print may have been engraved by Smith's teacher Beckett, many of whose plates Smith bought and published after his death. Small, fancy prints depicting Cupid and Venus or simply putti were popular and there are several in the volume. | 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: | FOUNTAIN : COMB : GREEK MYTHOLOGY : VENUS : FIGURE : CUPID : INFANT : HAIR : AMOR : QUIVER : BOW : 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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