Richard Earlom (1743..1822), Portrait of Sir Thomas Chaloner, after Van Dyck, 1778.Van Dyke Pinxit. Geo.Farington delin. Richard Earlom sculpsit./Published March 2nd 1778, by John Boydell Engraver in Ch Mezzotint.After the painting by Van Dyck now in The Hermitage, St. Petersburg. One of a series of prints published by John Boydell of works in the Walpole collection at Houghton Hall that were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia.. . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . £85 . . Full page 51 x 67 cm published by Boydell in 1778 image 31 x 42 cm minor crease under hand otherwise remarkably good no foxing etc p[osted rolled in a special 'tube' not as rich in colour as the next copy but otherwise pretty mint

At the age of nineteen Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599..1641) was admitted into the painter's Guild of Antwerp, as a Master. A year later he was the senior assistant to Rubens. A superb portraitist, Van Dyck became famous throughout Europe and later was appointed court painter to King James the First of England.

Anthony Van Dyck was first introduced to both engraving and etching by Peter Paul Rubens. Around 1630 he began his most ambitious printmaking project to create a uniform series of engravings of famous contemporaries derived from his portraits. Anthony Van Dyck provided his engravers with extensive preparatory work, including drawings and oil sketches. He then corrected his engraver's proofs and even etched the outline features on some of the portraits. In the following years he designed and supervised about eighty such portrait engravings which were published individually by Martin van den Enden. His principal engravers included Paulus Pontius, Nicolaes Lauwers, Pieter de Jode, Lucas Vorsterman, Robert van Voerst and others.

Richard Earlom: One of the greatest eighteenth century mezzotint and stipple engravers, Richard Earlom was apprenticed to the London based engraver, Cipriani, in his youth. He began work for John Boydell in 1774, taking five years to create the two hundred plates which comprise the Liber Veritas set. These engravings were completed and published in 1779 and showed the world the remarkable effects a combination of mezzotint and etching could produce on landscape art and gained for both Earlom and Boydell a long lasting fame. In fact, in the following century, these Richard Earlom mezzotints directly influenced the landscape art of Turner.

Pope Clement the Ninth,

after Carlo Maratti [Italian Baroque Era Painter, 1625-1713] , Print, John HALL, (1739-1797), Engraver 50.8 x 38 cm (image) £125 inc

Pope Clement the IX, (GIULIO ROSPIGLIOSI), Born 28 January, 1600, at Pistoja, of an ancient family originally from Lombardy; elected 20 June, 1667; died in Rome, 9 December, 1669. The original painting was done by Maratti and hangs in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg Russia. The plate was engraved by the artist John Hall, English, 1739 ... 1797, and then published by the well known London print maker John Boydell, one of the most influential figures in the history of English printmaking. He was not only an accomplished engraver, and an industrious publisher, but as a printseller he came to dominate the English print trade. He is best known as the originator of the Shakespeare Gallery, which made him one of the most successful print-sellers of his time and later Mayor of London.

Carlo Maratta or Maratti (May 13, 1625 ... December 15, 1713) was an Italian painter of High Baroque, active mostly in Rome.

Born in Camerano (Marche), then part of the Papal States. He came as a boy of 12 to apprentice in the studio of Andrea Sacchi. Like Sacchi, his paintings have a classicizing tone, inspired by the works of the great painters from Parma and Bologna: Carracci, Guercino, and Lanfranco. He developed a close relationship with Sacchi till the death of his master in 1661. He worked alongside Francesco Cozza, and Domenico Maria Canuti in the decoration of the Palazzo Altieri.

His first prominent work is an Adoration of the Shepherds for San Giuseppe die Falegnami in 1650. He came to establish one of the most prominent art studios in Rome of his time. Other major works are the The Mystery of the Trinity Revealed to St. Augustine (c. 1655) painted for the church of Santa Maria dei Sette Dolori, The Appearance of the Virgin to St. Philip Neri (c. 1675) now in the Pitti Palace of Florence, The Virgin with Saints Carlo Borromeo and Ignatius of Loyola and Angels (c. 1685) for the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, and The Assumption of the Virgin with Doctors of the Church (1689) for Santa Maria del Popolo, . His numerous depictions of the Virgin earned him the nickname Carluccio delle Madonne ("Little Carlo of the Madonnas").

The style of Maratta is a classicized Baroque, more restrained and composed than the styles of Cortona and Carracci, thus more allied to the traditions of Sacchi, Albani, and Reni. He was one of the artists favored by Giovanni Bellori. Maratta was known for his insightful portraiture

In 1650, Maratta was introduced to pope Alexander VII, who commissioned many paintings including one of his greatest works, a painting of Constantine destroying the idols for the Baptistry of the Lateran. This work brought Maratta increased fame in the Vatican, and in 1704 Maratta was knighted by pope Clement XI. Other works include an altarpiece in the San Francesco Saverio Chapel of the Church of the Gesu, in the right transept. He died at Rome.

Archbishop Laud

 

Mezzotint after Van Dyke. Published Dec 1st 1778 by John Boydel,Mezzotint James watson 1739?. 1790), one of the most skilled mezzotint engravers then working in London. after a painting by Antonius van Dyke.BOYDEL,

Stunning large format mezzotint; full page old soft crease as in pic old abrasion near left hand£95

James WATSON,, mezzotint engraver, Craven Buildings, Drury Lane 1763M-1764; Great Portland Street 1765; Queen Anne Street 1767-70; 45, Little Queen Anne Street 1772-73; 64, Little Queen Anne Street 1775. B. c1740, Ireland; d. 20 May 1790, Fitzroy Street. Prob. Iearned engraving in London from James MacArdell. One of the leading mezzotint engravers of the day including 56 plates after Reynolds. The majority of his work was for Sayer, Boydell and other printsellers but he published some plates himself. Exhibited Society of Artists 1762/75. Brother William painter, daughter Caroline engraver

At the age of nineteen Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599. .1641) was admitted into the painter's Guild of Antwerp, as a Master. A year later he was the senior assistant to Rubens. A superb portraitist, Van Dyck became famous throughout Europe and later was appointed court painter to King James the First of England.

Anthony Van Dyck was first introduced to both engraving and etching by Peter Paul Rubens. Around 1630 he began his most ambitious printmaking project to create a uniform series of engravings of famous contemporaries derived from his portraits. Anthony Van Dyck provided his engravers with extensive preparatory work, including drawings and oil sketches. He then corrected his engraver's proofs and even etched the outline features on some of the portraits. In the following years he designed and supervised about eighty such portrait engravings which were published individually by Martin van den Enden. His principal engravers included Paulus Pontius, Nicolaes Lauwers, Pieter de Jode, Lucas Vorsterman, Robert van Voerst and others.

 

An Original mezzotint of the Marchioness of Wharton

drawn by Josiah Boydell after the painting by Sir Peter Lely at Houghton, mezzotint, 400 x 290mm. One of a series of prints published by John Boydell of works in the Walpole collection at Houghton Hall that were sold to Catherine the Great of Russia.. . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . £125 . . Full page 51 x 67 cm published by Boydell in 1776 perfect no foxing; full page; stunning

Peter Lely received his formal training in Haarlem, Holland, under Pieter Franz de Grebber. He moved to England in 1641 and initially painted landscapes and historical scenes. Lely became a leading portraitist in 1643 when he painted the likenesses of Charles I, Prince William and Princess Mary. Lely remained in England during Cromwell's years in power. Upon the Restoration, Charles II appointed Lely as his principal painter and made him a baronet in 1679. Some of the most famous British portraits of the seventeenth century are from Lely's hand, including those of Charles II, the Beauties of the Court of Charles II, James, Duke of Ormond, Samuel Butler, his self-portrait, Nell Gwynn, Mary Davis and the Duchess of Cleveland. The self-portrait painting which formed the genesis for Petrus Lelly Eques is now in the permanent collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. A purely tonal method of engraving, mezzotinting was developed by a German soldier (Ludwig von Siegen) in the mid seventeenth century. By 1665 the Dutch engravers, Wallerant Vaillant and Abraham Blooteling, produced the first masterpieces in mezzotint. The first English mezzotint was created in 1669. Initial attempts were mainly produced by amateur artists. A major influence upon the course of the English Mezzotint came from Britain's premier court painter, Sir Peter Lely. Lely saw this newly invented medium as a means to promote his portrait paintings. Lely was not the first painter to promote his work through the graphic arts. Fifty years earlier Sir Anthony van Dyck had formed a school of engravers to translate his portraits into line engraving. The result was The Iconography, which was first published as a completed set in 1645. Lely, however, recognized the more painterly potential of the mezzotint over line engraving, and through his attentions the first great English mezzotint engravers emerged..

Richard Earlom: One of the greatest eighteenth century mezzotint and stipple engravers, Richard Earlom was apprenticed to the London based engraver, Cipriani, in his youth. He began work for John Boydell in 1774, taking five years to create the two hundred plates which comprise the Liber Veritas set. These engravings were completed and published in 1779 and showed the world the remarkable effects a combination of mezzotint and etching could produce on landscape art and gained for both Earlom and Boydell a long lasting fame. In fact, in the following century, these Richard Earlom mezzotints directly influenced the landscape art of Turner.

An Original mezzotint of Sir Thomas Wharton.

Wharton, Thomas, 5th baron and 1st marquess of, 1648-1715. Bust in lettered oval looking left, surrounded by symbolic Baroque composition. Image 36 x 54 cm., Thomas Marquis of Wharton./In the Possession of Robert Coke Esq./ . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . £125 . . Full page 51 x 67 cm published by Boydell in 1775 minor crease under hand otherwise remarkably good no foxing etc posted rolled in a special 'tube' rich in colour slight edge browning to page otherwise pretty mint

At the age of nineteen Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599..1641) was admitted into the painter's Guild of Antwerp, as a Master. A year later he was the senior assistant to Rubens. A superb portraitist, Van Dyck became famous throughout Europe and later was appointed court painter to King James the First of England.

Anthony Van Dyck was first introduced to both engraving and etching by Peter Paul Rubens. Around 1630 he began his most ambitious printmaking project to create a uniform series of engravings of famous contemporaries derived from his portraits. Anthony Van Dyck provided his engravers with extensive preparatory work, including drawings and oil sketches. He then corrected his engraver's proofs and even etched the outline features on some of the portraits. In the following years he designed and supervised about eighty such portrait engravings which were published individually by Martin van den Enden. His principal engravers included Paulus Pontius, Nicolaes Lauwers, Pieter de Jode, Lucas Vorsterman, Robert van Voerst and others.

Valentine Green (English, 1739..1813) October 3, 1739 .. July 29, 1813) was a British engraver.Born in Salford Priors, he was placed by his father in a solicitor's office at Evesham, where he remained for two years; but ultimately he decided, on his own responsibility, to abandon the legal profession and became a pupil of a line engraver at Worcester. In 1765 he migrated to London and began work as a mezzotint engraver, having taught himself the technicalities of this art, and quickly rose to a position in absolutely the front rank of British engravers.

He became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1767, an associate-engraver of the Royal Academy in 1775, and for some forty years he followed his profession with the greatest success. The exclusive right of engraving and publishing plates from the pictures in the Düsseldorf gallery was granted him by the duke of Bavaria in 1789, but, after he had issued more than twenty of these plates, the siege of that city by the French put an end to this undertaking and caused him serious financial loss.

From this cause, and through the failure of certain other speculations, he was reduced to poverty; and in consequence he took the post of keeper of the British Institution in 1805, and continued in this office for the remainder of his life. During his career as an engraver he produced some four hundred plates after portraits by Reynolds, Romney, and other British artists, after the compositions of Benjamin West, and after pictures by Van Dyck, Rubens, Murillo, and other old masters.

It is claimed for him that he was one of the first engravers to show how admirably mezzotint could be applied to the translation of pictorial compositions as well as portraits, but at the present time it is to his portraits that most attention is given by collectors. His engravings are distinguished by exceptional richness and subtlety of tone, and by very judicious management of relations of light and shade; and they have, almost without exception, notable freshness and grace of handling.

 

Lord Chief Baron Wandesford

 

Mezzotint after Van Dyke. Published Dec 1st 1778 by John Boydel,Mezzotint James watson 1739?. 1790), one of the most skilled mezzotint engravers then working in London. after a painting by Antonius van Dyke.BOYDEL,

Stunning large format mezzotint; tipped onto old rag paper c 1820 cut to just beyond plate mark as in many mezzotints £125

James WATSON,, mezzotint engraver, Craven Buildings, Drury Lane 1763M-1764; Great Portland Street 1765; Queen Anne Street 1767-70; 45, Little Queen Anne Street 1772-73; 64, Little Queen Anne Street 1775. B. c1740, Ireland; d. 20 May 1790, Fitzroy Street. Prob. Iearned engraving in London from James MacArdell. One of the leading mezzotint engravers of the day including 56 plates after Reynolds. The majority of his work was for Sayer, Boydell and other printsellers but he published some plates himself. Exhibited Society of Artists 1762/75. Brother William painter, daughter Caroline engraver

At the age of nineteen Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599. .1641) was admitted into the painter's Guild of Antwerp, as a Master. A year later he was the senior assistant to Rubens. A superb portraitist, Van Dyck became famous throughout Europe and later was appointed court painter to King James the First of England.

Anthony Van Dyck was first introduced to both engraving and etching by Peter Paul Rubens. Around 1630 he began his most ambitious printmaking project to create a uniform series of engravings of famous contemporaries derived from his portraits. Anthony Van Dyck provided his engravers with extensive preparatory work, including drawings and oil sketches. He then corrected his engraver's proofs and even etched the outline features on some of the portraits. In the following years he designed and supervised about eighty such portrait engravings which were published individually by Martin van den Enden. His principal engravers included Paulus Pontius, Nicolaes Lauwers, Pieter de Jode, Lucas Vorsterman, Robert van Voerst and others.

 

Jane, Daughter of Lord Wenman

Mezzotint after Van Dyke. Published May 1st 1779 by John Boydel,Mezzotint by the well-known English artist Josiah Boydell (painted in 1752 Manor House ... 1817 Halliford) after a painting by Antonius van Dyke.BOYDEL, JOSIAH (engraver)1779

Stunning large format mezzotint with later but old colour ; full page no foxing but marred by a dreadful crease beyond local restorers £85

At the age of nineteen Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599..1641) was admitted into the painter's Guild of Antwerp, as a Master. A year later he was the senior assistant to Rubens. A superb portraitist, Van Dyck became famous throughout Europe and later was appointed court painter to King James the First of England.

Anthony Van Dyck was first introduced to both engraving and etching by Peter Paul Rubens. Around 1630 he began his most ambitious printmaking project to create a uniform series of engravings of famous contemporaries derived from his portraits. Anthony Van Dyck provided his engravers with extensive preparatory work, including drawings and oil sketches. He then corrected his engraver's proofs and even etched the outline features on some of the portraits. In the following years he designed and supervised about eighty such portrait engravings which were published individually by Martin van den Enden. His principal engravers included Paulus Pontius, Nicolaes Lauwers, Pieter de Jode, Lucas Vorsterman, Robert van Voerst and others.