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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on plate b.c. "Venus et Adonis"; inscr. on plate b.l. "B.V. Lemens pinx:"; inscr. on plate b.r. "Sold by I. Smith at the Lyon and Crown in Russell Street Covent Garden"; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "32" CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) PUB SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER LEMENS, Balthazar van; (Flemish; 1637-1704) 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.
Smith published this print and may also be its author, it is one of 100 in the volume without an engraver's name. It is after a painting by the Belgian artist Balthazar van Lemens who worked in England. Roman goddess Venus is seen pleading with her lover Adonis not to go hunting, shortly before her fears are realised and he is killed by a wild boar. (See also 16631 and 16632). | 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: | LANDSCAPE : FOREST : METAMORPHOSES : GREEK MYTHOLOGY : VENUS : ADONIS : GOD : GODDESS : HUNT : NYMPH : CUPID : NAKED : FOLIAGE : DOG : LOVE : EROS : SUBJECT PRINT : 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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