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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on plate b.c. "If the Light Mother on the Sea did floate / The Lighter Son may make a Shell his Boate. / I. Smith fecit."; inscr. on plate b.l. "Balthazar van Lemens / pinxit."; 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 "49" CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER LEMENS, Balthazar van; (Flemish; 1637-1704) 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.
Here, Cupid floats on a shell on the sea whilst behind him, Neptune, Roman god of the sea, rides the waves in his chariot, wielding his three-pronged fork. The print is after a painting by the Flemish artist Balthazar van Lemens who worked in England. | 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: | GREEK MYTHOLOGY : OCEAN : CUPID : CUPIDS ARROW : BOW AND ARROW : SHELL : NEPTUNE : GOD : BOAT : LOVE : EROS : CHARIOT : TRIDENT : POSEIDON : HUNTER VOLUME : REPRODUCTIVE : | 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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