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Cover: The Standard Bearer (detail) by Prince Rupert (1619-1682) alter Pietro della Vecchia

MEZZOTINTS from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART Sept. 4 > Nov. 3, J 968

THE SMITH COLLEQE MUSEUM OF ART NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS Nov. 20 - Dec. 29, 1968

THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MUSEUM OF ART Jan. 10 - Feb. 3, 1969 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-6G722

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THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS MUSEUM OF ART Miscellaneous Publications No. 74 o Jo I ACKNOWLEDQMENTS

The present exhibition was organized by Mr. John Ittmann, a student in the Department of History of Art at the University of Kan­ sas. Mr. Ittmann's work in the Print Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the summer of 19(38 was supported in part by an undergraduate research grant from the College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Kansas. All of the prints included in this exhibition with the few exceptions noted in the catalogue are from the collection of the Print Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the Metropolitan it has been possible to supplement the exhibition with additional prints, includ­ ing a small group of early color , which are not listed in the present catalogue. We wish to thank the Trustees and Staff of The Metropolitan Museum of Art for approving the loan of these prints and The Smith College Museum of Art and Michael Wentworth for additional loans. Mr. Ittmann wishes to express his personal thanks to Mr. McKendry, Miss Janet Byrne and to all the members of the Print Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for their unfailing cooperation; to Miss Eleanor Sayre of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for her en­ couragement and advice; and to Mrs. Martin Cohn and Miss Elizabeth Hoover of the Fogg Museum, Harvard University, and Mr. Michael Wentworth of The Smith College Museum of Art for their valuable assistance.

JOHN J. MCKENDRY, Curator of Prints The Metropolitan Museum of Art

CHARLES CMETHAM, Director The Smith College Museum of Art

A. BRET WALLER, Director The University of Kansas Museum of Art

167177 It would appear a Paradox to discourse to you of a Graving with­ out a Graver, Burin, Point, or Aqua Fortis; and yet is This perform'd without the assistance of either: That which gives our most perite and dextrous Artists the greatest trouble, and is longest finishing (for such are the hatches, and the deepest shadowes in plates) should be here the least considerable, and the most expedititious; That, on the contrary, the Lights should be in this the most Laborious, and yet perform'd with the greatest facility: That what appears to be effected with so little Curiosity, should yet so accurately resemble what is generally esteem'd the very greatest; viz. that a print should emulate even the best of Drawings Chiaro oscuro, or (as the Italians term it) pieces of the Mezzo Tinto, so as nothing either of Vago da Carpi, or any of those other Masters who pursu'd his attempt, and whose works we have al­ ready celebrated, have exceeded, or indeed approach'd; especially, for that of Portraits, Figures, tender Landskips, and History, &C. to which it seems most appropriate, and applicable.

JOHN EVELYN, Sculptura, , 1662 INTRODUCTION

Mezzotint engraving was in its infancy when the well-known diarist published his Sculptura, a history of engraving on copper, which included in a short chapter this brief and somewhat obscure reference to the newly developed printing process.' Though he did not describe the procedure, he did suggest something of the difference be­ tween the and the other techniques then in use. Painters had long known how to create atmospheric depth by means of gradations of color, and by the seventeenth century they were exploiting this knowledge to produce paintings remarkable for their bold contrasts of light and dark, their dramatic effects. It is not surprising that the printmakers of the period should try to keep pace with the established modes of visual expression. Until the de­ velopment of the mezzotint, however, printmakers were hampered in their attempts to reproduce the full range of tonal values available to the painter. The , the dominant mode of graphic expression in the fifteen and early sixteenth centuries, survived in the seventeenth cen­ tury mainly in the form of 'chiaroscuro' prints: color of two or more tones printed from separate blocks to give a wide range of light and shadow. But rather than effecting a gradual transition of tonal values, the highlight and shadow of the chiaroscuro woodcut are printed in fiat areas of color, and the success of this method depends more on decorative outline of form and subtle juxtaposition of hue. By the beginning of the seventeenth century two processes, en­ graving and , had become the prevailing media of graphic art. In the former, lines are incised into a copper plate mechanically by the graver or burin, while in the latter, lines are produced chemically by the action of acid or aqua fortis. In simplest terms, a design is traced with a needle or point on a plate which has been covered with a waxy substance. When immersed in acid the wax repels the chemical while the traced design is "bitten" through into the copper. Both etching and engraving are essentially linear techniques, in which the darkest shadows must be built up by a network of cross-hatched lines. LUDWIG VON SIEGEN (1609-after 1676) Portrait of Amelia Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse Cassel

Whereas a great master like could adapt the print- maker's tools to the expression of his personal style and produce original works of exceptional brilliance, the printmaker of the seven­ teenth century was mainly concerned with the interpretation of the work of other artists. Consequently, he was constantly experimenting with the tools at hand to arrive at a means which might best effect the translation of the painter's rich variety of tone. A portrait of Otiver Cromwell by J. (?) van de Velde (cat. no. 1) offers but one isolated example of the printmaker's exploration in new directions for this purpose. The etcher's acid must have suggested to van de Velde the method by which he was able to roughen the entire background and border of this portrait in a manner analogous to the process, which was not to become an established technique until the second half of the eighteenth century. In 1642, about the same time that Rembrandt was producing notable for their dramatic chiaroscuro, and some ten years before van de Velde printed his portrait of Cromwell,2 Ludwig von Siegen, a soldier in the service of William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, engraved a portrait of William's mother (cat. no. 2) in which he was able to suggest finely graduated shading in a new way. His shadows were built up by the manipulation of a fine-toothed wheel, or 'roulette,' used as a pencil or brush might be, the dotted lines ap­ plied with parallel strokes following contour to model form. That Siegen's method of engraving led directly to the subsequent develop­ ment of the mezzotint has long been established. However, his method differed considerably from the first detailed account of the procedure published by Alexander Browne, a London print publisher, in his Ars Pictoria, 1669:

"The Manner or Way of Mezo Tinto:— First take a very well polished plate of Copper, and ruffen it all over with your Engin one way, then cross it over with the Engin again, and if you find occasion then cross it over the third time, untill it be ruffened all over alike (that is to say) if it were to be printed, it would print black all over; this done, take Charcole or black Chalk to rub over the plate, and then draw your design with white Chalk upon the plate, then take a sharp stift, and trace out the outlines of the design you drew with the white Chalk, and where you would have the light strike strongest, take a burnisher, and burnish that part of the plate where you would have the light strike as clean as it was when it was first polished; where you would have the fainter light, you must not polish it so much, and this way you may make it either fainter or stronger, according to your fancy. As for the manner or shape of the Engin, they are divers, and if any ingenious person have a desire to have any made, the Author will give them farther directions."3

The 'Engin' or 'rocker,' as it came to be called, is a chisel-like tool rounded at the end. Its tapering blade is chanelled like a file with parallel grooves which form a toothed profile at the rounded cutting edge. The tool is literally rocked back and forth on the plate, the pressure applied causing the teeth to raise a fine burr over the entire surface of the plate. At this stage, if the plate were printed it would yield an impression of deep, velvety black. The image itself is produced by working the prepared plate with burnisher and scraper, from dark to light, as it were, to produce delicate gradations of greys and pearly whites. Since Siegen built tones with the roulette and worked from light to dark, leaving blank the areas where tone was not required, his prints, strictly speaking, were not mezzotints. It had not been possible to identify with certainty the person responsible for the development of the rocker to roughen the entire plate, and the consequent use of the burnisher and scraper, until the publication in 1960 by Miss Orovida Pissarro of an extract from the Evelyn manuscripts on deposit in Christ Church, Oxford.4 In the brief chapter on the mezzotint in Sculptura quoted above, Evelyn credits the invention of the mezzotint to Prince Rupert of Pfalz, Count Palatine of the Rhine (cat. no. 5) with no mention at all of Ludwig von Siegen.5 Evelyn withheld a description of the technique, stating that he did not wish the process "to be prostituted at so cheap a rate," and that he was preparing a description of it "to be reserv'd in the Archives of the ROYAL SOCIETY . . . ."" As Miss Pissarro suggests, the manuscript in Christ College is most probably the draft of Evelyn's projected paper to be presented to the Royal Society, but never delivered.7 In the Christ College Manuscript Evelyn describes the mezzotint process with even greater detail than Alexander Browne, and includes diagrams of a 'hatcher' (the rocker) and a 'style' (with a burnishing tool at one end and scraping tool at the other). Evelyn concludes his account by naming Rupert as his instructor and stating that Rupert "told me it was the devise of a common souldier in Ger­ many, by observing something that had scraz'd his Musquett, upon which (being an ingenious fellow) he refin'd 'till he had brought it to that perfection on Copper . . . ."8 Further Miss Pissarro quotes from letters from Prince Rupert to William VI of Hesse-Cassel, which estab­ lish Rupert as the inventor of the 'hatcher.'9

8. (1640-1690) Portrait of Franz Mieris after Mieris' self-portrait

10 15. (ca. 1652-1742) Self-portrait after Kneller

Rupert returned to with Charles II in 1660, bringing with him the knowledge of the mezzotint technique that he was to impart to Evelyn. Both Rupert and Evelyn saw the mezzotint as being par­ ticularly suitable for the reproduction of portraits, and they con­ sidered the technique as being unsurpassed in its ability to render in painter-like fashion the qualities of surface and texture and light and shade in the paintings it copied. The art of the mezzotint is closely linked with the development of the English school of portrait paint­ ing, and it became so popular in England that it was known in the eighteenth century as la maniere anglaise.10 However, in the years immediately following its introduction to England, the mezzotinters, like the painters whose work they copied, were mostly of foreign birth. At that time Lely was the most popular portrait painter, and Wallerant Vaillant and Abraham Blooteling were the most accomplished mezzo­ tinters in London (cat. nos. 6-9), although they were soon to return to the continent. The earliest dated mezzotint by an Englishman was the portrait of Charles II by William Sherwin, published in 1669,11 but Sherwin and his contemporary, Francis Place, were amateur print- makers like Prince Rupert, and their output was small. Not until and Robert Williams set up practice in the 1680's can it be said that the English school of mezzotinters was finally established (cat. nos. 13-14).

11 That the history of the mezzotint mirrors the evolution of popular taste in England is reflected in the variety of types of paintings which were copied. Lely and Kneller were but the first of a long line of portrait painters in England who were to employ the most skillful mezzotinters for the reproduction of their work. Kneller worked ex­ tensively with the printmakers John Smith, and John Faber (cat. nos. 15, 16), successively. In the eighteenth century Gains­ borough's portraits were mezzotinted by his nephew, Gainsborough Dupont, while so proficient a printmaker as en­ joyed the patronage of all the leading painters (cat. nos. 24, 25).

26. JOSEPH GROZER (active 1784-1797) Portrait of William Augustus Bowles after Hardy 24. JOHN RAPHAEL SMITH (1752-1812) Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Campion after Peters 7. WALLERANT VAILLANT (1623-1677) The Fruit Peeler

Concurrent with the publication of mezzotints of baroque portraits in the late seventeenth century, reproductions of Dutch genre pictures were made by mezzotinters in and were popular enough to warrant their being imported to London. Candlelight scenes were par­ ticularly well-suited to translation into mezzotint, which could capture the dramatic mood of suggestive lighting. In the eighteenth century, the mezzotints after the eerily lighted canvases of Joseph Wright of (cat. nos. 30-32) assured the fame of this provincial artist throughout England. At the same time, Dutch genre painting enjoyed renewed favor when printmakers such as Edward Fisher mezzotinted numerous paintings by Adriaen van Ostade. The great English col­ lections now included large numbers of paintings by the Dutch and Italian schools, and many were made available for reproduction. The mezzotint by of a landscape by Hobbema (cat. no. 34), is an indication of the increasing taste in England for landscape

14 33. WILLIAM WARD (1766-1826) The Death of Oedipus after Fuseli pictures. Its publication coincides with the birth of the English school of landscape painters. In 1777 Earlom reproduced the of , a book of sketches intended by that artist as a record of his paintings. J. M. W. Turner's admiration for the landscapes of Claude is well known, and the success of the Earlom version of the Liber Veritatis no doubt suggested to Turner the publication of a series of his own land­ scapes in a Liber Studwrum (cat. nos. 35, 36). Turner found, as had others, that the major drawback of the mezzotint process was the limited number of impressions which could be printed before the plate lost its 'burr.' To compensate for this defect in his , Turner would first 'bite' a deeply etched outline in the plate, after which the professional printmaker applied the mezzotint ground and worked up

36. CHARLES TURNER (1774-1857) Castle above the Meadows after J.M.W. Turner

the landscape with scraper and burnisher under Turner's supervision. Finally, in 1822, Thomas Lupton perfected a steel plate which could be mezzotinted.1- A copper plate yielded not many more than one hundred strong impressions, whereas the mezzotinted steel plate was capable of printing upwards of fifteen hundred impressions without damage. As a result of this inovation, the steel plates of 's illustrations of Milton's Paradise Lost (cat. no. 37) withstood a dozen separate editions over a period of forty years with no appreciable sign of wear until the latest issues.13

16 41. DAVID LUCAS (1802-1881) Stoke-by-Neyland after Constable

Perhaps the most outstanding prints produced in England at this period were the landscape mezzotints which were the result of the close collaboration between and David Lucas (cat. nos. 39-41). While all of these landscapes were mezzotinted by Lucas, each was submitted to Constable for correction in as many as a dozen sepa­ rate proof impressions. These proofs are remarkable documents of Constable's technique in which the finished landscape slowly emerges from the rough first impression. Constable's landscapes excepted, it is generally considered that the introduction of the steel plate heralded the decline of the mezzotint. A certain velvety richness of tone produced by the deeper burr raised on the softer copper is lacking in mezzotints worked on the harder surface of the steel plate. In fact by the 1830's the mezzotint was no longer considered the best method for reproducing paintings. The de­ velopment of improved techniques for color reproduction had claimed the public previously devoted to mezzotint. In 1835 an Englishman, George Baxter, took out a patent for "im­ provements in producing coloured steel plate, copper plate, and other impressions," which included .14 Baxter used between ten

17 and twenty plates for his color prints, and "Baxter's Patent Oil Pic­ tures" and those published by licensed practitioners made millions of colored reproductions available to the public for as little as six-pence apiece. Not surprisingly, the work of mezzotinters of this period does not approach the level of that of their predecessors in the eighteenth century. Although proof impressions of the plates from Turner's Liber Studiorum were collected throughout the nineteenth century, it was not until the revival of interest in eighteenth century art in general that the mezzotint itself was again prized for its especially 'English' qualities. In the 1880's, with the renewed practice of the 'forgotten' arts of printmaking—etching and woodcutting—the mezzotint, too, en­ joyed a rebirth. In 1885, Sir Francis Seymour Haden could write, I hold and entirely believe that, with intellectual etching as its Alpha and sensitive mezzotint as its Omega, the whole arena of the engraver's art is covered; that we need go, for every great and painter­ like quality, no farther afield; and that all intermediate processes are comparatively imperfect, chiefly because they are superfluous.15

JOHN ITTMANN

18 NOTES 1. Evelyn's Sculpture, C. F. Bell, ed., Oxford, 1906, p. 146. This is a re­ print of the first edition of 1662, to which has been added the never before published Second Part, Evelyn's translation of Abraham Bosse's appendix, "La, maniere d'imprimer les planches en taille douce: ensemble d'en con- struire la presse," Traicte des manieres de graver en taille douce sur I'airin, first edition, 1645, pp. 57-75. The Second Part was discovered accidentally during the unfruitful search for the so-called "Middleton-Massey" Evelyn manuscript (see below, n. 7). 2. A. M. Hind, "Notes on the History of Soft-Ground Etching and Aquatint," The Print-Collector's Qjiarterly, VIII, 1921, pp. 377-405. Hind dis­ cusses the dating of the Cromwell portrait on p. 400. 3. Quoted in J. Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinlo Portraits, London, 1878, I, p. 107. 4. Orovida C. Pissarro, "Prince Rupert and the Invention of the Mezzotint," The Walpole Society 1956-1958, XXXVI, 1960, pp. 1-9. Miss Pissarro states that the passage on mezzotint engraving was discovered in MS 52 of the Evelyn papers by W. G. Hiscock, Sub-Librarian of the college, and that it was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1954. 5. Evelyn's Sculptura, p. 147. 6. Ibid., p. 148. 7. Pissarro, op. cit., p. 6. An Evelyn autograph manuscript has long been known to exist. Miss Pissarro, p. 2, notes that L. de Laborde in his Histoire de la gravure en maniere noire, 1839, p. 13 note, knew of its existence in the possession of a Mr. Middleton-Massey. De Laborde probably had not seen it, but may, in fact, have obtained his information from the English translation of Bayle's General Dictionary, by Bernard, Birch and Lockman, 1734-41, V, p. 131, which contains a note citing the Middleton-Massey manuscript and re­ ferring to Evelyn's description of Rupert's "hatcher" and "style," as well as to the rusted musket which supposedly inspired the invention of the mezzotint (referred to in C. F. Bell's introduction to Evelyn's Sculptura, p. ix note). 8. Pissarro, op. cit., p. 5. 9. Ibid., p. 7. 10. Cyril Davenport, Mezzotints, New York, 1903, p. 74, quotes from P. J. Mariette, Receuil d'estampes qui composoient le cabinet de M. Boyer d'Aguil- les, where two mezzotints are described as "graves dans la maniere qu'on nomine d'Angleterre." 11. Ibid., p. 81. 12. Thomas Balston, John Martin, London, 1947, pp. 94-5. Lupton was awarded the Isis medal of the Society of Arts for his success in engraving on steel. The steel plate should not be confused with the steel-faced copper plate, which was not introduced until 1880. In the latter the copper plate is electroplated with a thin film of steel after it has been engraved. 13. I bid., pp. 96-7. 14. Martin Hardie, English Coloured Books, New York, 1906, p. 35. 15. Francis Seymour Haden, "On the Revival of Mezzotint as a Painter's Art," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXX, 1885, p. 234.

19 BIBLIOQRAPHY

Andresen, Andreas, Der deutsche Peintre-Graveur . . . , Leipzig, V, 1878. Balston, Thomas, John Martin, London, 1937. Beraldi, Henri, Les gravures du XIX° siecle, Guide de I'amaleur d'eslampes madernes, , 1892. Davenport, Cyril, Mezzotints, New York, 1903. Evelyn's Sculptura, C. F. Bell, ed., Oxford, 1906. Findberg, Alexander J., The History of Turner's Liber Studiorum with a New Catalogue Raisonne, London, 1924. Frankau, Julia, John Raphael Smith, His Life and Works, London, 1902. Halsey Sale, The Anderson Galleries, New York, February 10, 11, 13 and 14, 1919. Haden, Francis Seymour, "On the Revival of Mezzotint as a Painter's Art," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXX, 1885. Hamilton, Eduard, A Catalogue Raisonne of the Engraved Works of Sir , London, 1884. Hardie, Martin, English Coloured Books, New York, 1906. Harrington, H. Nazeby, The Engraved Work of Sir Francis Seymour Haden, P.R.E., , 1910. Hind, A. M., "Notes on the History of Soft-Ground Etching and Aquatint," The Print-Collector's Quarterly, VIII, 1921. Holstein, F. W. H., Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700, 15 vols., Amsterdam, 1949-68. Laborde, Leon de, Histoire de la gravure en maniere noire, Paris, 1839. Le Blanc, C, Manuel de i'amaleur d'estampes, 4 vols., Paris, 1854-90. Nagler, G. K., Neues allgemeines Kiinstler-Lexikon, 22 vols., Munich, 1835-52. O'Donoghue, F., and Hake, H. M., Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits . . . in the , 6 vols., London, 1908-25. Pissarro, Orovida C, "Prince Rupert and the Invention of the Mezzotint," The Walpole Society, 1956-1958, XXXVI, I960, pp. 1-9. Shirley, Andrew, The Published Mezzotints of David Lucas after John Consta­ ble, R.A., Oxford, 1930. Smith, J. Chaloner, British Mezzotinto Portraits, 4 vols., London, 1883. Tissot, J. J., Introduction by Charles Yriarte, Eaux-fortes, maniere noire, pointes seches, Paris, 1886. Wessely, J. E., Abraham Blooleling, Leipzig, 1867. Richard Earlom, , 1886. Kritische Verzeichnisse . . . , III, John Smith, Hamburg, 1887. Wallerant Vaillant, Vienna, 1865. Whitman, Alfred, Valentine Green, London, 1902. Wurzbach, Alfred von, Niederlandisches Kiinstler-Lexikon, 3 vols., Vienna and Leipzig, 1906-11.

20 CATALOQUE

VAN DE VELDE, (JAN ?) Amsterdam, active before 1650-after 1653 1. Portrait of Oliver Cromwell

157/8byl2i/8 Wurzbach, 2 (I), as Jan IV P.C.Q., VIII, p. 397 Dick Fund, 1930 Nothing is known about this engraver except that he signed two portraits, one of Oliver Cromwell and another of Queen Christina of Sweden. In both portraits there are areas of tone that seem to have been applied by aquatint- in the back-ground and border of the Cromwell portrait, and in the pillar, curtains and bottom margin of the portrait of Queen Christina. The faces themselves are modeled with a roulette and irregular stipple-like dotting. (See Hind, P.C.Q., VIII, pp. 397-401.)

SIEGEN, LUDWIG VON German School, 1609-after 1676

2. Portrait of A m elia Eliza belli, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel 16 7/16 by 11 15/16, slightly trimmed at top, bottom and right Andresen, V, 1 (II) Delaborde, p. 120 Rogers Fund, 1918 In a letter to William VI of Hesse-Cassel in 1642, Siegen claims "That there is not any living engraver or artist that could guess how this engraving has been executed . . ." and that his method differed from any then in use, ". . . although apparently it con­ sists entirely of small points without a line anywhere; and even if hatched work seems to exist in some places, . . . that it is dotted throughout. . ." (Quoted in Davenport, p. 55).

3. Portrait of Mary, Princess of Orange alter Honthorst

211/2 by 15i/2, trimmed at left Andresen, V, 4 Delaborde, p. 120 Dick Fund, 1931

21 FORSTENBERG, THEODOR CASPER VON German School, 1615-1675 4. Portrait of Leopold William, Archduke of Austria and Burgundy

7i/8by4 17/32 Andresen, V, 1 Nagler, IV, p. 523 Rogers Fund, 1922 Fiirstenberg, Canon of , was an amateur printmaker like his contemporaries, Siegen and Prince Rupert. Like many of the artists working in mezzotint in the seventeenth century, Fiirsten­ berg made use of the graver or the etching needle to sharpen detail.

PRINCE RUPERT German School, 1619-1682 5. The Standard Bearer after Pietro della Vecchia

11 by 77/8 Andresen, V, 8 Delaborde, p. 206 Dick Fund, 1933 Prince Rupert, soldier, sailor, physicist and courtier, was the cousin of Charles II, whose claim to the throne he supported. The Standard Bearer, after a painting formerly attributed to Giorgi- one, and The Great Executioner, after Ribera, are Rupert's two most important prints. The large size of the latter, 24yg by 17i/2 inches, shows that from the earliest years of its use the mezzotint technique was considered capable of producing copies of paintings which were suitable for framing. The Small Executioner, Rupert's copy of the head only of the larger print, was published by Evelyn in Sculptura.

VAILLANT, WALLERANT Amsterdam, , London, Frankfurt, 1623-1677 6. Portrait of the Artist's Wife

93/4by7i/4 Wessely, 5 Wurzbach, 5 Delaborde, p. 122 Whittelsey Fund, 1951

22 7. The Fruit Peeler 93/4 by 12 Wessely, 155 Wurzbach, 155 Whittelsey Fund, 1956 Vaillant, a portrait painter in Amsterdam, learned how to mezzo­ tint from Prince Rupert, who brought Vaillant to England as his assistant. Though Vaillant copied paintings by other artists, he did much original work. His skill took him to France and Ger­ many, as well as England, and his more than two hundred mezzo­ tints qualify him as the first professional artist in this medium.

BLOOTELING, ABRAHAM Amsterdam, London, Amsterdam, 1640-1690 8. Portrait of Franz Mieris after Mieris' self-portrait

63/4 by 5i/2 Wessely, 37 (II) Holstein, II, 185 (I), illustrated Delaborde, p. 137 Dick Fund, 1917 9. Portrait of Mary, Princess of Orange after Lely 137/gby9 Wessely, 34 (I) Holstein, II, 180 (III), illustrated Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942 The Gertrude and Thomas J. Mum ford Collection "It is probable that the production of Blooteling's beautiful mezzotints did more to popularise the art among engravers than any other incentive, and most of the mezzotint engravers who worked at his own time, as well as afterwards, appear to have taken his work largely as a standard of excellence and as an example to be followed as nearly as possible." (Davenport, p. 78.)

SCHENK, PETER Eberleld, Amsterdam, 1661-1715 10. The Letter after Zyl 13 3/16 by 93/, trimmed to plate line Copy after Vaillant? (Wurzbach, 183) Whittelsey Fund, 1951 Schenk worked lor a print dealer in Amsterdam mezzotinting the works of painters, as well as of other mezzotinters.

23 SOMER, (JAN?) VAN Amsterdam, ca. 1645-after 1699 11. The Drinking Couple

11 by 12i/2 Delaborde, p. 132 Gift of J. R. Watkins, 1942 Jan van Somer and Paul van Somer were probably brothers, and there exist several mezzotints signed 'Van Somer' only. The mezzotints of Jan van Somer are mostly small and generally repre­ sent Dutch genre scenes. SARRABAT, ISAAC French School, born 1667 12. Portrait of Louis XIV 133/8by97/8 Halsey Sale, XIII, 135, proof before letters Gift of Carl J. Ulmann, 1924 Sarrabat was one of the first French artists to produce mezzotints. The technique was employed to a limited extent in France at this time, possibly because it would have competed with the firmly established French school of portrait engravers. WILLIAMS, ROBERT British School, active 1680-1704 13. Portrait of Catherine Sedley

9i/4 by 67/8 Chaloner Smith, IV, 52 (II) Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942 The Gertrude and Thomas J. Mum ford Collection "Isaac Beckett and Williams are entitled to be considered as the first native Englishmen who extensively practised [mezzotinting] and in a measure founded the school; the earlier works being chiefly executed by engravers not of English birth, and those who were so, as Place and Sherwin, having worked to a limited extent, so tar as known without pupils, and rather as amateurs than any­ thing else." Chaloner Smith, I, p. 20. BECKETT, ISAAC British School, 1653-1719 14. Portrait of Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland alter Kneller 8i/4 by 67/8 Chaloner Smith, I, 22 (I) Dick Fund, 1917

24 SMITH, JOHN British School, ca. 1652-1742 15. Self-portrait after Kneller

13i/4 by 101/g Wessely, 233 (II) Chaloner Smith, III, 232 (II) Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942 The Gertrude and, Thomas J. Mumford Collection On his tomb at St. Peter's in Northampton is the following inscription: "Near this place lye the remains of John Smith of London Gent, the most eminent engraver in Mezzotinto in his time. He died the XVII Jan MDCCXLII aged XC." (Quoted in Chaloner Smith, III, p. 1131)

FABER, JOHN British School, active 1712-1756 16. Portrait of Sir after Kneller's self-portrait

137/8by97/8 Chaloner Smith, I, 208 (I) Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942 The Gertrude and Thomas J. Mumford Collection This portrait and forty-seven others were engraved by Faber to commemorate the membership of the Kit-Kat Club, a company of noble wits and gentlemen scholars, mostly Whig celebrities.

VOGEL, BERNARD Nuremberg, Augsburg, 1683-1737 17. Portrait of the Engraver, Wussin after Kupezky 14by 10 1/16 Halsey Sale, XIII, 33 Loaned by Michael Wentworth Few artists outside of England practiced mezzotinting with any real success. An exception was Vogel, who engraved chiefly after Kupezky, one of the most fashionable portrait painters in Europe in his time.

25 HAID, JOHANN ELIAS Augsburg, 1739-1809 18. Portrait of Johann Jakob Haid after Graff

15i/2 by 10 7/16 Le Blanc, II, 33 Gift of Carl J. Ulmann, 1924 Johann Elias Haid mezzotinted this portrait of his father, Johann Jakob Haid, from whom he had learned his art. Other members of the Haid family worked in London, where there was a readier market for their mezzotints.

HOUSTON, RICHARD British School, ca. 1721-1775 19. Portrait of Princess Louisa Anne after Liotard

133/8by83/4 Chaloner Smith, II, 72 Rogers Fund, 1962 Not only did Houston reproduce the usual portraits by Reynolds, but he also copied several series of subject pictures by Mercier, as well as a number of portraits by Rembrandt.

FRYE, THOMAS , London, 1710-1762 20. Anonymous Portrait

197/8byl37/8 Chaloner Smith, II, 24 Loaned by Michael Wentworth "Frye found considerable difficulty in persuading people to sit to him for their portraits, and he frequented the theatres in order to obtain surreptitious sketches of notable persons. It is said that he obtained his portraits of George III and his queen in this way, and that his notice being observed, the king and queen sat quite still, so that the artist might finish his work more easily. The fashionable ladies he wished to draw were not always so amenable as their majesties, alleging as a reason that they did not know in whose company their portraits might eventually appear." (Daven­ port, p. 125)

26 DEAN, JOHN British School, ca. 1750-after 1805 21. Mercury, as Cutpurse after Reynolds 153/8by 10 13/16 Hamilton, p. 152(111) Dick Fund, 1917 Dean was known especially for his portraits after Romney, and his subject pieces after Reynolds and Morland.

YOUNG, JOHN British School, 1755-1825 22. Eliza after Hoppner

147/8byl07/8 Chaloner Smith, IV, 74 (between I and II) Dick Fund, 1941 "John Young was a pupil of J. R. Smith, and in 1789 was ap­ pointed 'Mezzotint engraver to the Prince of Wales,' and in 1813 he became 'Keeper to the British Institution' in succession to Valentine Green." (Davenport, p. 169)

SPILSBURY, JOHN British School, active 1760-1790 23. Portrait of Miss Jacobs after Reynolds

197/8by 14 Chaloner Smith, III, 21(1) Dick Fund, 1941 This proof is inscribed in ink in the title margin: "This print obtained the highest Premium in the year 1761, granted by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Com­ merce, instituted in London."

SMITH, JOHN RAPHAEL British School, 1752-1812 24. Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Compton after Peters 15by 11 1/16 Chaloner Smith, III, 45 (I) Frankau, 89 (I) Dick Fund, 1941

27 25. Portrait of Edward Worthy Montagu after Peters 20 by 14 Chaloner Smith, III, 111 (II) Dick Fund, 1953 John Raphael Smith came from a family of artists. His father was the landscape painter known as 'Smith of Derby,' while his sister was a miniaturist and his brother worked in water-colors. In his time, Smith came to be considered the foremost mezzo- tinter in England.

GROZER, JOSEPH British School, active 1784-1797 26. Portrait of William Augustus Bowles "Chief of the Embassy from the Creeke ir Cherokee Nations." after Hardy 165/8byll3/8 Chaloner Smith, II, 1 (I) Rogers Fund, 1912 Little is known of Joseph Grozer, however Chaloner Smith gath­ ered the following information on William August Bowles: "In the Gentleman's Magazine, for 1791, will be found several letters relating to the discovery of a colony of Welsh descent in North America called the 'Madawgwys,' and stating that the theory is supported by the evidence of this Mr. Bowles; at p. 800 will be found a letter stating that Bowles was only an Indian trader in 1777, and not a chief, but that there was a chief of the Creek Nation called 'Mad Dog,' hence the story."

FISHER, EDWARD Ireland, London, ca. 1730-1785 27. Portrait of Paul Sandby after Cotes

15i/2 by 103/ Chaloner Smith, II, 55 Dick Fund, 1953 Paul Sandby was influential in establishing water-color as the typically English medium for . A topographi­ cal draughtsman, Sandby published several series of picturesque views, executed in the aquatint technique, which had recently been introduced to England from France.

28 SAY, WILLIAM British School, 1768-1834 28. Portrait of Catharine Stephens after Harlow 143/ by 103/ O'Donaghue, II, 176,3 Dick Fund, 1917 Say was the pupil of James Ward, and later worked with J. M. W. Turner on the Liber Studiorum. He experimented in engraving on steel as early as 1820, with little success.

DIXON, JOHN Dublin, London, ca. 1730-after 1800 29. Incantation after Mortimer 237/by 19i/8 Le Blanc, II, 30 Whittelsey Fund, 1959 John Mortimer and Wright of Derby studied under Thomas Hudson. Mortimer was known lor the exotic subject matter of his paintings.

PETHER, WILLIAM British School, 1731-ca. 1795 30. An Hermit after Wright of Derby 221/ by 18, trimmed to plate Chaloner Smith, 111,47(11) Dick Fund, 1953 Pether was a student of Thomas Frye. His best work was done after Wright of Derby and Rembrandt.

WRIGHT, JOSEPH (called'Wright of Derby') British School, 1734-1797 31. Democrilus Studying Anatomy Oil on canvas 11 13/16by 11 Exhibited: , Durlacher Bros., March 1 through March 26, 1960 Loaned by the University of Kansas Museum of Art The dramatic lighting of the paintings of Joseph Wright of Derby lent itself well to translation into mezzotint, with its wide range of tones.

29 GREEN, VALENTINE British School, 1739-1813 32. The Air Pump after Wright of Derby 175/by 23 Whitman, 167 (III) Loaned by the Smith College Museum of Art Valentine Green was rewarded for his skill in mezzotint by being appointed 'Mezzotint Engraver to George III' and later to Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine. He was elected one of the six as­ sociate engravers of the Royal Academy, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He was keeper of the Royal Institution from its foundation in 1805 until his death in 1813. WARD, WILLIAM British School, 1766-1826 33. The Death of Oedipus after Fuseli 123/by 177/ Le Blanc, IV, 97 Dick Fund, 1947 William Ward was the most distinguished pupil of J. R. Smith. He lived in a world of art, having married the sister of George Moreland, who himself had married Ward's sister. His brother, James Ward, was also proficient as a mez.zotinter, but was better known for his paintings of animals. EARLOM, RICHARD British School, 1743-1822 34. Landscape with a Watermill after Hobbema 17i/ by 20 3/16, trimmed beyond plate at bottom Wessely, 141 (between I and II) Dick Fund, 1922 Earlom was known for his mezzotinted landscapes, subject and flower pieces after seventeenth-century masters. He was one of the first mezzotint engravers of note to make his reputation with prints which were not portrait reproductions. TURNER, CHARLES British School, 1774-1857 35. Castle above the Meadows after J. M. W. Turner 7 by 10 5/16 Findberg, 8, etched plate Gift of Theodore De Witt, 1917

30 36. Castle above the Meadows after J. M. W. Turner 7 by 10 5/16 Findberg, 8, engravers proof b Gift of Theodore De Witt, 1923 The published state of these proofs from the Liber Studiorum was advertised for sale by J. M. W. Turner in 1816 "In continuation of the second volume of this work, intended as an illustration of Landscape Composition, classed as follows: Historical, Moun­ tainous, Pastoral, Marine, and Architectural." Charles Turner mezzotinted the first twenty plates of the Liber Studiorum, with the supervision of J. M. W. Turner. As has been stated, J. M. W. Turner, himself, applied the preliminary etched outline to the plate beiore handing it over to the professional mezzotinter.

MARTIN, JOHN British School, 1789-1854 37. Illustration for Milton's 'Paradise Lost' 10 by 13 15/16 Balston, appendix 9, a, 4 (A) Dick Fund, 1917 To Illustrate Book V, lines 308ff. "Haste hither Eve, and with thy sight behold/ Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape/ Comes this way moving 38. The Destroying Angel

181/ by 24i/2 Balston, appendix 8 (a), 18 Whittelsey Fund, 1955 "From the nature of Martin's paintings, there could be no rivalry with West and Lawrence, but almost from the start he became a recognised rival of Turner and was, though it seems hardly credible to later generations, to run a neck-and-neck race with him for supremacy which only ended with Turner's death in 1851, three years before Martin's." (Balston, p. 32)

LUCAS, DAVID British School, 1802-1881 39. Stoke-by-Neylatul after Constable r 5 /8 by 8./8 Shirley, 9 (a) Dick Fund, 1939

31 40. Stoke-by-Neyland after Constable 55/ by 85/ Shirley, 9 (c), touched proof Dick Fund, 1927 41. Stoke-by-Neyland after Constable 55/ by 85/ Shirley, 9 (I) Dick Fund, 1925 These three prints illustrate in brief Constable's method of collaboration with his mezzotinter, David Lucas, as the finished landscape slowly emerges from the tentative blocking out of Constable's first ideas. HADEN, SIR FRANCIS SEYMOUR British School, 1818-1911 42. Egham Lock 87/ by 57/ Harrington, 16 (b), etched plate Dick Fund, 1917 43. Egham Lock 87/ by 57/ Harrington, 16 (III), mezzotinted plate Dick Fund, 1917 Haden was a surgeon who took up etching at the age of forty for relaxation—a pastime that was to become a passion. He was one of the earliest cataloguers of Rembrandt's etchings, and organised the first chronological exhibition of that artist's prints. This etching, one of Haden's earliest, had its mezzotint ground applied many years after the etched plate was published, when Haden became interested in reviving the art of the mezzotint. TISSOT, JAMES JACQUES JOSEPH Paris, London, 1836-1902 11. Le Banc de Jardin 161/by 221/ Beraldi, 66 Tissot, 77 (I, before letters) Loaned by Michael Wentworth Tissot, a Frenchman and Anglophile, fell in love in London with Kathleen Newton, who died of consumption at the age of twenty- eight. Mrs. Newton appeared in many of Tissot's paintings and prints, including Le Banc de Jardin. Tissot reproduced many of his paintings as etchings, but he made only four mezzotints. Pos­ sibly he learned the technique from his friend Haden.

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