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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on plate t.c. "THE WOMEN FIGHTING FOR THE BREECHES."; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "42" 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. 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 this volume 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. Traces of red wax on this page show it was once sealed shut due to the erotic nature of the print. Such erotic prints were quite common in England in the later 17th century. | 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: | WOMEN : FEMALE : SYMBOLISM : FIGHTING : COMIC : HUMOUR : BREECHES : TROUSERS : EROTICA : PORNOGRAPHY : 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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