18th Century Art

This sumptuous 18th-century mezzotint engraving by Richard Earlom (1743-1822) is after a work by Dutch luminary Jan Van Huysum (1682-1749). In the late 18th century, Richard Earlom ...

An original engraving with mezzotint after French artist Claude Lorrain's drawing (1604-1682) by English artist Richard Earlom (1743-1822). From Richard Earlom's "Liber Veritatis", this is plate 147. Published in London by John Boydell, September 1st, 1776. Earlom executed a series of engravings of 200 of the drawings and sketches of Claude Lorrain, which was published in three folio volumes under the title of "Liber Veritatis", (1774-1819). Framed size: 15.25" x 17.25. Image size: 7.25" x 10.25". In very good condition. Richard Earlom (baptised 14 May 1743 – 9 October 1822) was an English mezzotinter. Earlom was born and died in London. His natural faculty for art appears to have been first called into exercise by his admiration for the lord mayor's state coach, which had just been decorated by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. He tried to copy the paintings, and was sent to study under Cipriani. He displayed great skill as a draughtsman, and at the same time acquired without assistance the art of mezzotint. In 1765, Earlom was employed by Alderman Boydell, a publisher and promoter of the fine arts, to make a series of drawings from the pictures at Houghton Hall; and these he engraved in mezzotint. His best works are perhaps the fruit and flower pieces after the Dutch artists Van Os and Jan van Huysum. Among his historical and figure subjects are Agrippina, after Benjamin West; Love in Bondage, after Guido Reni; the Royal Academy, the Embassy of Hyderbeck to meet Lord Cornwallis, Colonel Mordant's Cock Fight and a Tiger Hunt, all after Johan Zoffany...