Mezzotint: Shepherd and shepherdess by a fountain (the ages of men) (schaapsherder en herderin bij een fontein, naar Titiaan).

John Smith the mezzotinter (1652-1743), after Titian (ca 1490-1576)

Antique print, mezzotint | Shepherd and shepherdess by a fountain (the ages of men), published ca. 1700, 1 p.

Name: Antique print, mezzotint | Shepherd and shepherdess by a fountain (the ages of men), published ca. 1700, 1 p.
SKU: 65473
Price: 140.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

Shepherd and shepherdess seated by a fountain, after Titian; the shepherd, semi-nude and wearing a loose sheet, with his arm around the shepherdess, wearing flowers in her hair and a loose dress; both holding musical pipes; in foreground to right, crook; fountain on the left, with sculpted shell; trees in the background. Signed below: “Titian Invent.” and “I. Smith ex.”

Ganz notes that this is an adaptation of Titian’s ‘Three Ages of Man’ in Edinburgh (Coll. of Duke of Sutherland), as first engraved by Wallerant Vaillant (Holl. 47/Wess. 238; same direction as Smith’s mezzotint). According to Hollstein, Vaillant “probably worked after a drawing attributed to Jan de Bisschop in Amsterdam, inv. 1966:45,” which was copied, in reverse, by an anonymous engraver and published by Pieter Schenck (Holl. 2037) and by Blooteling (Holl. 277).
Smith’s plate is a re-publication of an earlier mezzotint which was copied either from the anonymous mezzotint or the mezzotint by Blooteling.
An impression is included in the Smith album in the NYPL, mounted near prints dated 1707.

Published in London ca 1700.

On verso collector’s mark: VE in a circle: Pim van Eekelen (Amsterdam 1923-1984), L.5101.

[NL] Schaapsherder en herderin bij een fontein, naar Titiaan.

SKU: 65473

Mezzotint on paper, trimmed close to plate mark; total: 172 x 131 mm; in outstanding condition.

€ 169,40 (€ 140,00 ex. btw)

In stock