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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on plate b.c. "Vanity"; inscr. on plate b.l. "B.V. Lemens pinx:" inscr. on plate b.r. "J. Smith fec. et ex."; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "71" 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 made and published this print after a design by the Flemish artist Balthazar van Lemens who worked in England. Putti playing with bubbles was a popular allegorical image, traditionally representing the transience of life and the vanity of earthly achievements. There are two other examples in this volume (Glaha 16683, 16709). | 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: | VANITAS : ALLEGOERY : TIME : LIFE : TRANSIENCE : GREEK MYTHOLOGY : CUPID : EROS : LOVE : AMOR : BUBBLES : 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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