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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "56" CRE UNKNOWN; (English; 17th century) AFTER UNKNOWN; (Dutch; 17th century) 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.
There are no maker or publisher signatures on this print, perhaps a proof before letters, and Smith's involvement with its production is unknown. He did acquire many mezzotint plates by his predecessors and contemporaries, republished them and included them in volumes such as this, providing context to his own work. There was a considerable demand for such fancy pictures at the lower end of the market, viewed quite differently from prints of more worthy subjects. | 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 : FARM HOUSE : WINDOW : PEDDLER : STREET SELLER : GENRE : PEASANT : 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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