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Description: | bound volume (dimensions 54 x 38 x 7 cms) inscr. on plate b.c. "A: da Correggio Pinx: I: Smith Fecit 1701. Ex collectione Nobilissumi Marchuanis Nor manbiae. / Sold by I. Smith at the Lyon and Crown in Russel Street Covent Garden"; inscr. on page t.r. hand-written in brown ink "15" CRE SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) PUB SMITH, John; (English; 1652-1743) AFTER CORREGGIO (Antonio Allegri); (Italian; 1489/94-1534) 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 print is based on a painting by the revered 16th century Italian painter Correggio which was in the collection of politician and author John Sheffield, Marquis of Normanby. There is an engraving of his portrait by Kneller in volume one (see Glaha 16393). Depicted is Venus, the Roman god of love, who, like Galatea the sea nymph, was often represented in a shell chariot and surrounded by cupids. | 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: | SHELL : SCALLOP : VENUS : GREEK MYTHOLOGY : GODDESS : LOVE : FEMALE : NUDE : CUPID : CUPID'S ARROW : DOVE : PEARLS : SEA : OCEAN : BIRTH OF VENUS : APHRODITE : CYPRUS : AMOR : EROS : 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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