John Thomas Smith

18th century landscape etching pastoral nature scene detailed ink trees

1793

"English Country Fisherman by the Cottage" is an original etching by John Thomas Smith. The miniature etching features a country cottage with a thatc...

The present is one of the many prints John Thomas Smith produced of English cottages and vernacular architecture. This example, a view of a cottage in Edmonton, is closely related to...

"Tempio Della Pace" is an original engraving by Israel Silvestre. The title is printed below the miniature image. It shows a frontal view of the remains of the Temple of Peace in Rom...

"La Danse Sous Les Arbes (The Country Dance)" is an etching by Claude Gellee (Le Lorrain). This etching is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Louvre. Publisher: Ma...

Etching on cream laid paper, 4 5/8 x 3 1/2 inches (118 x 89 mm), thread margins. Laid down to a medium weight laid support, scattered nicks and corner wear. The top and bottom corner...

Etching on handmade wove paper, 3 3/4 x 2 3/4 inches (95 x 70 mm), thread margins. Third state (of five), likely printed early 19th century. In very good condition with light handlin...

Etching on cream laid paper with a large foolscap watermark, 5 5/8 x 7 7/8 (150 x 200 mm), thread margins. In excellent condition with a light pencil inscription and an inventory num...

Artist: Johannes "Jan" Kip (Dutch, 1652/3-1722) Title: "The West Prospect of the Cathedral of York" (Vol. 3, Plate 31) Portfolio: Britannia Illustrata / Le Nouveau Théâtre de la Grande Bretagne Year: 1715-1724 (Third edition) Medium: Original Engraving and Etching on cream laid paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: Joseph Smith, London, UK Publisher: Joseph Smith, London, UK Reference: "London Illustrated 1604-1850" - Adams No. 22; Crace No. 201; Brunet IV No. 114; Lowndes No. 1277; Lewine page 263-264 Sheet size: 19.25" x 24.19" Image size: 16.75" x 22.5" Condition: With centerfold as issued. Some light toning and foxing mainly in margins, and some light edgewear. Has been professionally stored away for decades. It is otherwise a strong impression in very good condition Rare Notes: Provenance: private collection - Ross-on-Wye, UK. Engraved by Dutch artist Johannes "Jan" Kip (1652/3-1722) after a drawing by Dutch artist Leonard Knyff or Leendert Knijff (1650-1722). Comes from Kip's six volume (including Supplement and 'Atlas Anglois') "Britannia Illustrata" / Le Nouveau Théâtre de la Grande Bretagne", (1724-1728) (Third edition), which consists of 394 engravings and etchings. Printed in one color from one copper plate: black. Biography: Johannes "Jan" Kip (1652/53 in Amsterdam - 1722 in Westminster) was a Dutch draftsman, engraver and print dealer. Together with Leonard Knyff, he made a speciality of engraved views of English country houses. Kip was a pupil of Bastiaen Stopendaal (1636–1707), from 1668 to 1670, before setting up on his own; his earliest dated engravings are from 1672. In April 1680, at the age of 27, he married Elisabeth Breda in Amsterdam. After producing works for the court of William of Orange in Amsterdam, Kip followed William and Mary to London and settled in St. John Street in Farringdon, where he conducted a thriving printselling business. He also worked for various London publishers producing engravings after such artists as Francis Barlow (c. 1626–1704) and Caius Gabriel Cibber (1630–1700), largely for book illustrations. He made several engraved plates for Awnsham & John Churchill's "A Collection of Voyages & Travels" (first published 1704). He signed the African scenes in volume V of the 1732 edition as "J. Kip". His most important works were the large fold-out folio illustrations for "Britannia Illustrata", 1708; for the 65 folio plates he engraved for the antiquary Sir Robert Atkyns, "The Ancient and Present State of Glostershire", 1712 (1st edition); and for "Le Nouveau Théâtre de la Grande Bretagne ou description exacte des palais de la Reine, et des Maisons les plus considerables des des Seigneurs & des Gentilshommes de la Grande Bretagne", 1715, an extended reprint in collaboration with other artists. The linked careers of Jan Kip and Leonard Knyff made a specialty of engraved views of English country houses, represented in detail from the bird's-eye view, a pictorial convention for topography. Their major work was "Britannia Illustrata: Or Views of Several of the Queens Palaces, as Also of the Principal seats of the Nobility and Gentry of Great Britain, Curiously Engraven on 80 Copper Plates", London (1707, published in the winter of 1708–9). The volume is among the most important English topographical publications of the 18th century. Architecture is rendered with care, and the settings of parterres and radiating avenues driven through woods or planted across fields, garden paths, gates and toolsheds are illustrated in detail. The images are staffed with figures and horses, coaches pulling into forecourts, water...