Monday, August 1, 2016

18-century Prints at the British Museum

Francisco Goya after Diego Velázquez
 Portrait of the Infante Don Fernando in hunting dress
1778
etching
British Museum

To study every print in the British Museum would be like studying every grain of sand along the coast of California, a larger task than any single human lifetime can contemplate. At best, a few samples can be picked up, more or less at random, and held briefly to the light. Most of those chosen for this group were originally conceived as homages to the work of earlier artists.

Thomas Rowlandson after Giovanni Battista Cipriani
Ariadne abandoned
1790s
hand-colored etching
British Museum

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta
Frontispiece (an elegant couple)
after 1737
engraving
British Museum

John Skippe after Michelangelo
Ignudo
1781
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

John Skippe after Lodovico Carracci
Three figures
1781
chiaroscuro woodcut
British Museum

Valentine Green after Agostino Carracci
Venus and Cupid
1785
mezzotint
British Museum

Arthur Pond after Raphael
Woman carrying jars
1734
woodcut and etching
British Museum

Arthur Pond after Annibale Carracci
Two figures
1734
etching
British Museum

Francesco Rosaspina after Parmigianino
Studies of heads
late 18th century
etching
British Museum

Francesco Rosaspina after Parmigianino
Christ Child and young St John the Baptist
1788
etching
British Museum

Francesco Rosaspina after Parmigianino
Figure studies
late 18th century
etching
British Museum

Francesco Rosaspina after Parmigianino
Lame approaching the Temple
1788
etching
British Museum

Jonathan Richardson Senior
Portrait of Alexander Pope in profile
1738
etching
British Museum

Anonymous print-maker after Rosalba Carriera
Summer
18th century
mezzotint
British Museum

I am grateful to the British Museum for making these images available.