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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on plate b.c. "The Four Elementes"; inscr. on plate b.l. "H. de. Clerck delineavit"; inscr. on plate b.c. "B. Lens fecit" and "Cum Privilegio Regis."; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "35" CRE LENS, Bernard II; (English; 1659-1725) AFTER CLERCK, Hendrik de; (Flemish; 1570-1629) 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 almost 40 prints in the volume by, or attributed to, Bernard Lens II, who, like Smith, was a pioneering mezzotint engraver. Smith republished a number of them and placing them in volumes such as this, providing a context to his own prints.
After an allegorical painting by early 17th century Flemish painter Hendrik de Clerck it depicts the four elements; Earth seated on the left hold flowers, produce of the earth; Fire holding a torch with flames coming from her head. Beside her is air holding a bird and below is Water, seated by an overturned urn. | 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: | ALLEGORY : ALLEGORICAL FIGURE : FEMALE : ELEMENTS : THE FOUR ELEMENTS : AIR : BIRD : WATER : URN : RIVER : FIRE : FLAMES : EARTH : FRUIT : FOLIAGE : LANDSCAPE : 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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