Print Description
Medium: Mezzotint engraving on hand laid (verge) paper.
Sheet size: 25.4 x 34.8 cm (10 x 13.7 inch). Image size: 25 x 34.1 cm. (9.84 x 13.43 inch).
Condition: good, given age. Light foxing, soling and creasing. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.
GODFREY KNELLER PORTRAIT, JOHN SMITH MEZZOTINT, ENGLISH MEZZOTINT PORTRAIT 17TH CENTURY, COURT PAINTER WILLIAM III PORTRAIT PRINT, BRITISH MEZZOTINT | PCO-EXPO-PORTRAITS
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Engraved and published by John Smith after a portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, London, 1694.
State: State II-III.
Reference: Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, no.150; National Gallery of Art Washington 2001.118.48.
Biography engraver: John Smith (c.1652-1742) was an English mezzotint engraver and publisher and one of the most prolific printmakers in late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England. He specialized in portrait mezzotints after leading painters such as Sir Godfrey Kneller, Sir Peter Lely, and other court artists. Smith’s prints played an important role in popularizing portraits of aristocrats, politicians, and artists throughout Britain and Europe.
Biography artist: Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646-1723) was a German-born painter who became the most prominent portrait artist in England during the late Stuart and early Georgian periods. Trained in the Netherlands and Italy, he settled in London in the 1670s and succeeded Sir Peter Lely as the dominant portrait painter of the English court. Kneller served multiple monarchs including Charles II, William III, and Queen Anne and was knighted in 1692 and later made a baronet.
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