Most of these are substantial folio
or above in sizing
if exact sizing or condition reports are needed yell .. all
are post free etc mainly from "In 1773, he began A Set of Prints
Engraved after the Most Capital Paintings in the Collection of Her
Imperial Majesty the Empress of Russia, Lately in the Possession of
the Earl of Orford at Houghton in Norfolk, which was finished in
1788. a large part of Walpole's collection of paintings was sold
for just £40000 by his grandson George, Earl of Orford, to
Catherine the Great, all now in the Hermitage
|
Christ laid in the Sepulchre
after Francesco Parmigiano engraved
by C.H.Hodges published
1788 by Boydell from the Houghton Cabinet series full page
;browning to page edge £55
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
|
Christ laid in the Sepulchre 2
after Francesco Parmigiano engraved
by C.H.Hodges published
1788 by Boydell from the Houghton Cabinet series laid to paper cut
to plate mark andlaid to paper c 1830 £35 otherwise good 1 cm
margins
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
The Holy Family
after Morelli by George Farington
engraved by Valentine
Green > published 1775 by Boydell second state from Houghton.
Condition central crease markfoxing to page edge well away from the
image ;crease bottom right corner £65 inc
GEORGE FARINGTON,, an
English painter,born in the county
of Lancaster, in 1754. He was educated under Mr. West, and obtained
the prize in the Royal Academy for the best historical picture.. A
landscape painter who came to London in 1763 and worked under
Richard Wilson. He was a member of the Society of Artists from 1768
to 1773, and entered the RA schools in 1769. In 1773 he and his
brother George went to Houghton to draw the pictures, which were
subsequently engraved by Earlom and published by Boydell.From the
late 1770's to 1781 he lived and worked in the lake District, but
returned to London where he remained for the rest of his life. He
was elected ARA and RA in 1783 & 1785.He illustrated Boydell's
"History of the River Thames" 1794, and Published "Views of the
Lakes" 1789, and "Views of the Cities and Towns of England &
Wales" 1790. He also maintained a diary from 1793 which is an
important record of the arts of the period .This promising artist
afterwards went to India, where he would undoubtedly have acquired
both fame and fortune, but he died in the prime of life in 1788
, VALENTINE. GREEN.
. ."This much respected and
venerable artist has lately ended a long life, chequered indeed by
the vicissitudes of success and adversity, but always distinguished
by honourable feeling and an assiduous exercise of his eminent
talents. Mr. Green was born in Warwickshire in 1739, and was
intended by his father for the profession of the law, for which
purpose he was placed under a respectable practitioner at Evesham,
in Worcestershire, with whom he passed two years; but having a
taste for drawing, he abandoned his office, and, without his
father's concurrence, became a pupil to an obscure line-engraver at
Worcester. His progress in that branch of engraving not succeeding
to his wishes, he came to London in 1765, where ne turned his
thoughts to scraping in mezzotinto, and, without the aid of an
instructor, arrived at a perfection which has seldom been equalled.
Mr. Green participates with Mac Ardell and Earlom the merit of
being the first artists who gave consequence and variety to the
particular mode of engraving to which they devoted themselves ; and
it is due to Mr. Green to remark, that his celebrated prints of
Hannibal and Regulus, after the pictures by Mr. \Vest in the royal
collection, were me first plates of equal magnitude and importance
that had appeared. These were succeeded by several others of
similar consideration, which will ever rank among the ablest and
most energetic efforts of mezzotinto. This indefatigable artist, by
his unremitting exertions during a period of upwards of forty
years, has produced nearly four hundred plates, engraved from the
most celebrated painters, ancient and modern. In 1789 Mr. Green
obtained a patent from the Duke of Bavaria of the exclusive
privilege of engraving and publishing prints from the pictures in
the Dusseldorf Gallery; and in the year 1795, had published
twenty-two prints of that collection. The enterprise promised to
remunerate him amply for so spirited an undertaking, but
unfortunately, during the siege of that city by the French in
Ï798,
the castle and gallery were laid in ruins, and a very valuable
property belonging to him was destroyed. Other speculations,
flattering in their outset, were lost to him by the overwhelming
eruption of the French Revolution, of which Mr. Green thus became
one of the innumerable victims. In 1767 he was elected a member of
the Incorporated Society of Artists of Great Britain ; and in 1/74
one of the six associate engravers of the Royal Academy. On the
foundation of the British Institution he was appointed Keeper; and
it will be allowed that his zealous exertions to promote the
purposes of the establishment, and the urbanity of his manners to
the public and the artists, were exemplary. Mr. Green died in July,
1813. The merit of his works, and the importance of their subjects,
will authorize our giving an ample list of them.
PORTRAITS AFTER SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. The
Portrait of Sir Joshua
Reynolds. 1780 ; from the picture at the Royal Academy. The Duke of
Bedford, Lord Henry and Lord William Russell, and Miss Vernon.
1778. Lord Dalkeith, son of the Duke of Buccleuch. 1778. Maria
Isabella, Duchess of Rutland. Emilia Alaria, Countess of Salisbury.
1787. Anne, Viscountess Townshend. 1780. The three Lady
Waldegraves. 1784. Lady Louisa Manners. 1769. Lady Elizabeth
Cavendish. 1781. Louisa, Countess of Aylesford. 1783. Lady
Elizabeth Delme. 1779. Lady Talbot. 1782. Lady Caroline Howard.
1782. Lady Georgina Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire. 1780. Lady Jane
Halliday. 1779. Jane, Countess of Harrington, with her two Sons.
1780.
PORTRAITS AFTER VARIOUS MASTERS. Charles
Theodore, Elector of
Bavaria ; after P. Battoni. Sir Thomas Wharton ; after Vandyck ;
for the Houghton Collection. Henry, Earl of Danby ; after the same
; for the same. George, Marquis of Huntly; after the same ; for the
same. Richard Cumberland, Esq. ; after Romney, 1771. Mrs. Yates, as
the Tragic Muse ; after the same. 1772. John Hamilton Mortimer,
painter ; after a picture by himself. Mr. Garrick and Mrs. Pritf
hard in Macbeth ; after Zof- fany. Mr. Powell and Mr. Bcnsley in
the characters of King John and Hubert ; after Mortimer.
HISTORICAL SUBJECTS, AFTER MR. WEST. The
Stoning of Stephen ;
very fine. 1776. The Raising of Lazanis. Christ calling to him the
little Children. Peter denying Christ. Jacob blessing the Sons of
Joseph. 1768. Daniel interpreting Balthasar's Dream. 1777. Nathan
»aid unto David, " Thou art the man." 1784. St. Peter and St.
Paul
going to the Sepulchre. The three Marys at the Sepulchre. Alexander
and his Physician. Regulus leaving Rome to return to Carthage.
Hannibal vowing eternal hatred to the Romans. Mark Anthony's
Oration on the Death of
ÑRÑëÑâÑpÑs.
Agrippina weeping over the Urn
of Gennanicus. The Death of Epaminondas. The Death of the Chevalier
Bayard.
SUBJECTS AFTER VARIOUS MASTERS. The
Annunciation ; after Fed.
Baroccio. The Nativity ; after the same. The Virgin and Infant ;
after Domenithino. St. John with his Lamb ; after MuriUo. The
Assumption of the Virgin ; after the same. The Entombing of Christ
; after L. Caracci. Time clipping the Wings of Love ; after
lrandyck. Venus and Cupid ; after Ây. Caracci. The Descent
from the
Cross ; after Hüben». The Visitation ; after the
same. The
Presentation in the Temple ; after the same.
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
Mary Magdalen washing Christ's feet
Mezzotint after Rubens by Robert
Dunkarton
(c.1744&endash;1811x17), engraver and portrait painter. . .
This is the second edition by Dunkarton the earlier on for the
Houghton collection printed by Boydell. This is the 1810 reprint by
Hurst Robinson ( late Boydell's ) of Cheapside. The quality is the
same rich image full page but NOT the earlier one £95
Robert Dunkarton was
a London mezzotint engraver active
from 1770 to 1811. He began as a portrait painter, exhibiting at
the Society of Artists and the Royal Academy between 1768 and 1779,
whereupon he stopped exhibiting, presumably concentrating on
engraving.
|
The Flight into Egypt
The Crucifixion
after Morellio by George Farington
engraved by Spilsbury
published 1778 by Boydell from the Houghton Cabinet series laid to
paper cut to plate mark and laid to paper c 1830 £65
otherwise good
1 cm margins
GEORGE FARINGTON,, an
English painter,born in the county
of Lancaster, in 1754. He was educated under Mr. West, and obtained
the prize in the Royal Academy for the best historical picture.. A
landscape painter who came to London in 1763 and worked under
Richard Wilson. He was a member of the Society of Artists from 1768
to 1773, and entered the RA schools in 1769. In 1773 he and his
brother George went to Houghton to draw the pictures, which were
subsequently engraved by Earlom and published by Boydell.From the
late 1770's to 1781 he lived and worked in the lake District, but
returned to London where he remained for the rest of his life. He
was elected ARA and RA in 1783 & 1785.He illustrated Boydell's
"History of the River Thames" 1794, and Published "Views of the
Lakes" 1789, and "Views of the Cities and Towns of England &
Wales" 1790. He also maintained a diary from 1793 which is an
important record of the arts of the period .This promising artist
afterwards went to India, where he would undoubtedly have acquired
both fame and fortune, but he died in the prime of life in 1788
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
Our Saviour in the Garden
after Filipo Lawri engraved by Peter Simon
published by Boydell
in 1787 from the Houghton Cabinet 21 x 27 image on a complete page £45
Filipo Lawri / Filipo Lauri
(1623-1694) Filippo
Lauri (Rome, 25 August 1623 . . 12 December 1694) was an Italian
painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.Born and
active in Rome, his story was featured in the biographies by
Baldinucci. He first studied with his father, Balthasar Lauwers (a
Flemish landscape painter (Italianized as Lauri), and then with his
elder brother, Francesco Lauri, and then with his brother-in-law,
Angelo Caroselli. Filippo's brother had been a pupil of Andrea
Sacchi. In 1654 Lauri became a member of the Accademia di San Luca
in Rome, and later became the Principe or director of the academy.
He painted along with Filippo Gagliardi a canvas depiction of
Celebrations for Christine of Sweden at Palazzo Barberini (now at
Palazzo Braschi).He was the youngest son of a Flemish painter of
landscapes and pupil of Paul Bril, Bathazar Lauwers (Baltassare
Lauri), who emigrated from Antwerp to Milan, then Rome. Francesco's
oldest brother Francesco Lauri was also a painter and a pupil of
Andrea Sacchi, who died young. Fillipo started his training with
his brother, and then became a pupil of Angelo Caroselli. He often
painted figures for Claude Lorraine. He was prolific. He employed
many engravers.
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
Christ appearing to Mary in the
Garden 1
Pietro da Cortona (Pietro
Berrettini), 1596..1669. engraved
by Murphy 51x35.5 cm Published by John and Josiah Boydell in 1781,
perfect copy full borders £125
Pietro da Cortona,
byname of Pietro Berrettini (November
1, 1596- May 16, 1669) was a prolific artist and architect of High
Baroque. Cortona is best known for painting fresco ceilings, a
pursuit in which he had ample competition in the Rome of his day,
but he was equally adept and masterful with architectural design.
While an influential contemporary and peer of the giants of the
Roman Baroque, his present fame, somewhat undeservedly, does not
match the reverence awarded the likes of Caravaggio, Bernini, and
Borromini.
Berrettini was born to a family of
artisans including his uncle
Filippo Berrettini, in Cortona, then a town in the Grand Duchy of
Tuscany. He first apprenticed with Andrea Commodi in Florence. But
soon departed for Rome at about 1612, where he joined the studio of
Baccio Ciarpi. In Rome, he had encouragement from many prominent
patrons including the Colonna. According to a biography, his deft
copies of Raphael's Roman frescoes brought him to the attention and
patronage (1623) of the Sacchetti brothers, Marcello and Giulio
Sacchetti, who became respectively cardinal (1626) and papal
treasurer during the Barberini papacy. In the Sacchetti orbit, he
met Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, as
well as Cassiano dal Pozzo.
These three men helped him gain a major
commission in Rome
(1624-1626), a fresco decoration in the newly constructed Bernini
church of Santa Bibiana. In 1626, the Sacchetti engaged Cortona to
paint for them three large canvases of Sacrifice of Polyxena,
Triumph of Bacchus, and Rape of the Sabines (the latter, c. 1629)
and to paint a series of frescoes in the Villa Sacchetti in Castel
Fusano, near Ostia, using a team that included the young Andrea
Sacchi. Soon the rising progidy would attract the patronage of the
powerful papal Barberini family. He had already been involved in
the fresco decoration of the Palazzo Mattei. And Cardinal Orsini
had commissioned from him an Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1626)
for San Salvatore in Lauro.
John Murphy (1740
..1820) of Cork went to London to study
engraving. In time he became a master of the mezzotint and was
commissioned to make plates for the nobility and the family of
George III. He was equally well received for his engravings both
after the Italian masters and after his contemporaries, such as
Reynolds, Northcote, Romney, Stothard and Benjamin West. Many of
his engravings were also published by himself, however, he was
commissioned (along with Richard Earlom) to engrave some of the
most important plates from The Houghton Gallery.
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
also listed as are the smaller versions on
the Houghton page
The Prodigal Son
after Salvator Rosa Engraving by Ravenet
from the Houghton
Cabinet . ..dated 1781 £145 ie a
differeng plate to the
mini
GEORGE FARINGTON,, an
English painter,born in the county
of Lancaster, in 1754. He was educated under Mr. West, and obtained
the prize in the Royal Academy for the best historical picture.. A
landscape painter who came to London in 1763 and worked under
Richard Wilson. He was a member of the Society of Artists from 1768
to 1773, and entered the RA schools in 1769. In 1773 he and his
brother George went to Houghton to draw the pictures, which were
subsequently engraved by Earlom and published by Boydell.From the
late 1770's to 1781 he lived and worked in the lake District, but
returned to London where he remained for the rest of his life. He
was elected ARA and RA in 1783 & 1785.He illustrated Boydell's
"History of the River Thames" 1794, and Published "Views of the
Lakes" 1789, and "Views of the Cities and Towns of England &
Wales" 1790. He also maintained a diary from 1793 which is an
important record of the arts of the period .This promising artist
afterwards went to India, where he would undoubtedly have acquired
both fame and fortune, but he died in the prime of life in 1788
SIMON FRANCIS RAVENET,,
a,French engraver, born at Paris
in 1706. After practising the art with considerable reputation in
his native country, he came to England, and settled in London about
the year 1750, and engraved several plates, which justly entitle
him to the rank of an eminent artist. He gave both colour and
brilliancy to his engravings, and finished them with great
precision. He engraved a variety of historical subjects and
portraits, among which are the following :
PORTRAITS. George I. George II. ; after
Mercier. Lord Camdcn ;
after JKcynoldt. Alexander Pope, Poet. James Thomson, Poet. David
Hume, Historian. Mr. Garrick and Mis« Bellamy, in Romeo and
Juliet;
after B. Wilson.
VARIOUS SUBJECTS.The Emblem of Human Life
; after Titian ;
Crozat collection. Venus and Adonis ; after P. Veronese ; the same.
The Adoration of the Shepherds ; after D . Feti; thesame. Painting
and Design ; after Guido. The Virgin, with the infant Jesus
sleeping; after the same. Charity ; after Carlo Cignani. Sophonisba
receiving the Nuptial Present ; after L. Giordano. The Death of
Seneca ; after the same. Tobias's Nuptial Night ; after Le Sueur.
Tobit Anointing his Father's Eyee ; after AQ. Caracci. The Lord of
the Vineyard; after Rembrandt. The Prodigal Son ; after Sal. Rosa.
Phryne tempting Xenocrates ; after the same. The Return of the
Prodigal Son ; after Oturcino. Lucretia deploring her Fate ; after
Cazali. Gunhilda, Empress of Germany, acquitted of a charge of
adultery ; after the same. He died in 1774. [Zani and Basan say he
was born in 17^1, and Rost says in 1707. He was a scholar of Ph. le
Bas, but most of his works were executed in England. He was much
employed by Boydell, as appears by his publications.]
Salvator Rosa
(1615 . . March 15, 1673) was an
Italian Baroque painter, poet and printmaker, active in Naples,
Rome and Florence.
He was born in Arenella, in the outskirts
of Naples: either June
20 or July 21, 1615. His father, Vito Antonio de Rosa, a land
surveyor, urged his son to become a lawyer or a priest, and entered
him into the convent of the Somaschi fathers. Yet, Salvator showed
a preference for the arts, thus secretly worked with his maternal
uncle Paolo Greco to learn about painting, and soon transferred
himself to his own brother-in-law Francesco Francanzano, a pupil of
Ribera, and afterwards to either Aniello Falcone[2], contemporary
with Domenico Gargiulo[3], or Ribera himself. Some sources claim he
spent time living with roving bandits[4]. At the age of seventeen
he lost his father; his mother was destitute with at least five
children, and Salvator found himself without financial support.
He continued apprenticeship with Falcone,
helping him complete
his battlepiece canvases. Lanfranco took notice of his work, and
advised him to relocate to Rome, where he stayed from 1634-6.
Returning to Naples, he began painting
haunting landscapes,
overgrown with vegetation, or jagged beaches, mountains, and caves.
These early landscapes were sold cheaply through private
dealers.
He returned to Rome in 1638-39, where he
was housed by Cardinal
Francesco Maria Brancaccio, bishop of Viterbo. For the Chiesa Santa
Maria della Morte in Viterbo, Rosa painted his first and one of his
few altarpieces with an Incredulity of Thomas.
In 1646 he returned to Naples, and appears
to have sympathised
with the insurrection of Masaniello,. It is alleged that Rosa,
along with other painters--Coppola, Paolo Porpora, Domenico
Gargiulo, Pietro dal Po, Marzio Masturzo, the two Vaccari and
Cadogna--all under the captaincy of Aniello Falcone, formed the
Compagnia della Morte, whose mission it was to hunt down Spaniards
in the streets, not sparing even those who had sought some place of
religious asylum. Finally he returned to stay in Rome in 1649. Here
he painted some important subjects, showing the uncommon bent of
his mind as it passed from landscape into history Democritus amid
Tombs, Death of Socrates, Regulus in the Spiked Cask (these two are
now in England), Justice Quitting the Earth and the Wheel of
Fortune.
While occupied with a series of satirical
portraits, to be
closed by one of himself, Rosa was assailed by dropsy. He died a
half year later. In his last moments he married a Florentine named
Lucrezia, who had borne him two sons, one of them surviving him. He
lies buried in the Chiesa degli Angeli, where a portrait of him has
been set up.He was a significant etcher, with a highly popular and
influential series of small prints of soldiers, and a number of
larger and very ambitious subjects.
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
Christ appearing to Mary in the
Garden 2
Pietro da Cortona (Pietro
Berrettini), 1596..1669. engraved
by Murphy 51x35.5 cm Published by John and Josiah Boydell in 1781,
2nd state before letters Crease over the image £55
Pietro da Cortona,
byname of Pietro Berrettini (November
1, 1596- May 16, 1669) was a prolific artist and architect of High
Baroque. Cortona is best known for painting fresco ceilings, a
pursuit in which he had ample competition in the Rome of his day,
but he was equally adept and masterful with architectural design.
While an influential contemporary and peer of the giants of the
Roman Baroque, his present fame, somewhat undeservedly, does not
match the reverence awarded the likes of Caravaggio, Bernini, and
Borromini.
Berrettini was born to a family of
artisans including his uncle
Filippo Berrettini, in Cortona, then a town in the Grand Duchy of
Tuscany. He first apprenticed with Andrea Commodi in Florence. But
soon departed for Rome at about 1612, where he joined the studio of
Baccio Ciarpi. In Rome, he had encouragement from many prominent
patrons including the Colonna. According to a biography, his deft
copies of Raphael's Roman frescoes brought him to the attention and
patronage (1623) of the Sacchetti brothers, Marcello and Giulio
Sacchetti, who became respectively cardinal (1626) and papal
treasurer during the Barberini papacy. In the Sacchetti orbit, he
met Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, as
well as Cassiano dal Pozzo.
These three men helped him gain a major
commission in Rome
(1624-1626), a fresco decoration in the newly constructed Bernini
church of Santa Bibiana. In 1626, the Sacchetti engaged Cortona to
paint for them three large canvases of Sacrifice of Polyxena,
Triumph of Bacchus, and Rape of the Sabines (the latter, c. 1629)
and to paint a series of frescoes in the Villa Sacchetti in Castel
Fusano, near Ostia, using a team that included the young Andrea
Sacchi. Soon the rising progidy would attract the patronage of the
powerful papal Barberini family. He had already been involved in
the fresco decoration of the Palazzo Mattei. And Cardinal Orsini
had commissioned from him an Adoration of the Shepherds (c. 1626)
for San Salvatore in Lauro.
John Murphy (1740
..1820) of Cork went to London to study
engraving. In time he became a master of the mezzotint and was
commissioned to make plates for the nobility and the family of
George III. He was equally well received for his engravings both
after the Italian masters and after his contemporaries, such as
Reynolds, Northcote, Romney, Stothard and Benjamin West. Many of
his engravings were also published by himself, however, he was
commissioned (along with Richard Earlom) to engrave some of the
most important plates from The Houghton Gallery.
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
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Moses Striking the Rock 1
after Nicolo Poussain engraved by J
B. Michel dated and
published by Boydell for the Houghton Cabinet. . . edge browning ,
edge tear bottom central cropped in from full page at the top . .
on the lined/decorative edge £65 inc
Nicolas Poussin (15
June 1594 &endash; 19 November
1665) was a French painter in the classical style. His work
predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line
over color. Until the 20th century he remained the dominant
inspiration for such classically oriented artists as Jacques-Louis
David and Paul Cézanne. He spent most of his working life in
Rome
except for a short period when Cardinal Richelieu ordered him back
to France as First Painter to the King.
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
|
Moses Striking the Rock
after Nicolo Poussain engraved by J B.
Michel dated and
published by Boydell for the Houghton Cabinet. . . edge browning,
full page at the top £85 inc
Jean Baptiste Michel:
A stipple and line
engraver, Jean Baptiste Michel studied art under Chenu, in his
native Paris. After establishing his reputation in France, J. B.
Michel moved to London around 1780. During the following years he
was commissioned to engrave decorative, religious and historical
plates after the designs of such old masters as Leonardo, Carracci,
Pietro da Cortona, Maratti, Velazquez and many others. He also
engraved many fine plates after contemporary painters such as
Benjamin West and Boucher. During the 1790's Jean Baptiste Michel
was regularly commissioned by John Boydell.
Nicolas Poussin (15
June 1594 &endash; 19 November
1665) was a French painter in the classical style. His work
predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line
over color. Until the 20th century he remained the dominant
inspiration for such classically oriented artists as Jacques-Louis
David and Paul Cézanne. He spent most of his working life in
Rome
except for a short period when Cardinal Richelieu ordered him back
to France as First Painter to the King.
John Boydell
(Shropshire, 1719 ..London, 1804) was
clearly one of England's most remarkable 18th century people. Born
to a poor family, he began his career as an at best mediocre
engraver of book plates. At this time England was at a very low ebb
as a serious centre for the creative arts (particularly engraving)
and Boydell sought to eradicate this problem by beginning a second
career as a print publisher. Modest experiments in the 1760's led
to a rapid expansion and the mid 1770's saw the publication of his
Liber Veritas, with mezzotint engravings by Richard Earlom after
the drawings of Claude in the King's Collection. This expensive
undertaking put England back on the printmaking map and was a huge
financial success for Boydell.
Some of the finest mezzotint engravings in
the history of
British art belong to Boydell's series known today as The Houghton
Gallery. Beginning in 1781, Boydell commissioned England's best
mezzotint artists to engrave the paintings by Italian Renaissance
masters in the collection of the Empress of Russia at Houghton. In
total, one hundred and twenty-eight plates were created by the time
the set was completed in 1788.
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