CH R ONOLOGI CAL E X H I B I T I O N O F M E Z Z O ‘ T I N T S FKOM ‘v o ysg S I E‘ GE‘ N ‘ T O QR/I ‘R NET EX HIB IT ED A T T HE ' GR OLIER CLUB X T H E G R E A T E X E C U T I O N E R CH R O NOLOGI CAL EX H I B I T I ON O F M E Z Z O T I N T S FR OM v o w S I EQ E’N T O B‘ A KN ET EX HIB IT ED A T T HE Q R OLIER CLUB NEW YOR K A NNUA L MEET I NG 1918 t 5 1 . 1 78: R E FE R E NCE S AND AB B R E VIAT IONS Appended are the various names and abbre v iations employed, and the w o rks to w hi ch they refer . In this connection it is a pleasure to refer to h . t at remarkable work by J C . Smith on which he labored with loving care for thirty years . It is the standard work on British mezzotint portraiture, and though monographs cata loguing the works of individual artists, s ubs e quently published, may sometimes give an item of information which was not accessible to Smith or escaped his notice,his work is monu mental and stands supreme . C . S . British Mezzotint Portraits described B . A 1 88 . by John Chaloner Smith, . London, 4 or MI LT . H . HA ON The Engraved Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, by Edward Hamilton, o 1 88 . M . D . , F etc . L ndon, 4 HORNE . An illustrated catalogue of engraved portraits and fancy subj ects painted by Thomas 1 60 R A . Gainsborough, . Published between 7 1 2 A mn ub and 8 0. nd by George Ro ey, p lis hed between 1 770 and 1 830, with the vari ations of the state of the plates, by Henry A. o 1 8 1 . Percy Horne, M . L ndon, 9 i Al WHITMAN . Samuel W lliam Reynolds,by o 1 0 . fred Whitman . L ndon, 9 3 Charles Turner, by Alfred Whitman. Lon 1 don, 907. mi 09 870 REFERENCES AND ABBREVIAT ION S L s e e ABORDE . Hi toire de la Gravure en Mani r NOire, by Léon de Laborde . Paris, s . WESSELY . Catalogue of the Work of W 1 Vaillant . l E Kiins t er . NAGL R. Lexicon R McKAY E . H n r R A o e . AND OB RTS John pp , . ,by McKa d . 1 . an 0 W y W. Roberts London, 9 9 . Le a s o R . D . Peintre Graveur Franc i ,by R bert 1 8 . Dumesnil . Paris, 35 1 “ Archiv die z eichnende Kiins te, Vol . X I V, 1 868. IV INT R ODUCT ION T HERE are his torical as s ociations which give to the pres ent exhibitio n an appropriatenes s o f its ow n m o f in ti e war . The technical pro ces s which it illus trates w as invented by s o m os o o f o ks a ldier . The t ren wned the w r o f art in its earlier annals w as pro duced by w as v on Hes another . It Ludwig Siegen,a s ian oflicer, whos e experiments as an eu m graver brought the ezzotint into being. This martial amateur, s ubs tituting the s craper for the burin and the needle, added a new idiom to the language Of the print m k w as not m s o Of a er . He , hi elf, a creat r o o f aes thetic beauty . The p rtrait the Land gravine Amelia Eliz abeth,through which he announced his dis covery, at Am s terdam , in 1 2 i n 64 , s ot,precis ely,a lovely thing. But it po inted the way to great achievements and to that extent it ho lds fo rever a po s ition of o hon r . In 1 65 2 ,when Prince R upert, Count Pal atine o f the R hine,Duke Of Bavaria,nephew o f King Charles the Firs t o f England, m et Von Siegen in the Low Countries , he, als o V INT RODUCTION tradition is piquantly dis clo s ed in a s to ry told by Angelo , the fencer, w ho went with Gains borough and Abel, the mus ician, to Winds o r and there s aw the po rtrait o f Q ueen Henrietta Maria, in white s atin, by n k o s Va Dy e . The c nver ation befo re it as ’ reco rded in Angelo s Mem o irs w as begun by Gains bo rough “ That woman had tas te, s aid he ; why do not the Frenchw ofnen dres s with that exquis ite s implicity now "But s he w as the daughter o f Henry the Fourth " Ye gods l ” how the French have degenerated I “ ” Yes , s aid Abel, w ho w as a man o f oh “ s ervation ; but ho ws om dever dat may be, v ot a s trange degeneracy o f your gountry v om ans f o r to im idade all the drumpderry ” fas hions from France 1 “ True, replied Gains bo rough ; I once,in convers ing with his Majes ty upon the s ub j ect o f m odern fas hions , took the liberty to s ay,your painters s hould be employed to de ” n m s ig the co s tu es . “ Vell ; and I s hould tes ire to kno w v ot oh s erv ations his Majes ty redurned, as he is a ” f ul i ted brince o g t v a das te . “ What obs ervatio n,man "Why,the King ‘ s aid, You are right, Mis ter Gains bo rough, m f O n do not I a entirely o your pi ion . Why VIII INTRODUCTION ’ you and Sir Jos hua s et about it " adding, ‘ but they are bewitching enough as it is hey, Gains bo rough,hey “ ' And what did you rebly to dat — Why, like a s aucy dog as I am what ' — our gracious King lis tened to and only an s w ered s m s with a ile . I aid (faith, I am ‘ as hamed to repeat it", Yes , and pleas e your — Majes ty it were as well to leave the dowdy ’ s e angel alon . In the his to ry o f the Britis h mezzo tint which is s o largely the his to ry o f mezzotint — ing as an art the dowdy angels have been , m s e in the ain, verely left alone . Either all the ladies abo ut the Geo rgian court were marvels o f lovelines s , or Sir Jo s hua, Gains bo rough and the res t too k their cue from the King, and, whether they des igned the current co s tumes or not, united in s eeing that their feminine s itters , by the time they “ finis hed with them , were bewitching o s s s fill enough . The graci u pre ence which this exhibition, fo r example, s upply all the s f r is n evidence nece s ary o that . It , i deed, in its s ervices to the women o f the period, in its magnificent interpretation o f the paint ’ ers reco rds o f their charm s , that mezzotint m is has achieved its greates t fa e . But it important to note that this has been rather I X INTRODUCTION arbitrarily brought about by the pers is tence, f r o a long time, am ongs t co llecto rs ,o f what w as ea - o m s o T r lly an ill inf r ed fa hi n . he po rtraits o f m en painted by the eighteenth century mas ters are am ongs t the nobles t — products o f their s choo l, and to thes e as , — again, our exhibitio n clearly s hows the m e o s m s At s zz tinter did a me ju tice . the pre m m ent o ent, it is pleas ant to be able to note, conno is s eurs pay equal attentio n to the po r o f traits both s exes . H ow that attention has deepened as time has gone on, how the mezzotint has pas s ed from the s creen already mentioned to the library o r po rtfolio in which it is treas ured as a gem , is aptly s hown by s ome o f the fi u s f o om R n re g re o the aucti n ro . ey o lds ceiv ed only o ne hundred and fifty guineas fo r his full lengt h o f Lady Bampfylde, and ’ we m ay be s ure that Thomas Wats o n s m ezzotint from it w as put upon the market at a very m odes t figure . But when a rare ’ impres s io n o f Wats on s plate, in an early s tate, appeared at the Huth s ale in 1 905 , it i s fetched s omething over s x thous and dollar .