Title and artist from similar print in the British Museum. Cf. British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1868,0822.1998. and Date of publication based on age of sitter.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Gramont, Elizabeth Hamilton, comtesse de, 1641-1708,
Title devised by curator., Date of publication based on printmaker's death date., "Vid." engraved in upper left corner and "Inf." engraved in upper right corner., "Vol. III" engraved in lower left corner and "P. 198, 199" engraved in lower right corner., and On leaf 14 of an album of trade cards and invitations.
View of a wooden barn on the left, with a small square house surrounded by a picket fence beyond and a row of trees running between them; a whet-stone standing near a log in the field in front and a man in the right foreground (Thomas Kirgate, the printer) standing holding a volume tucked under his arm
Alternative Title:
Printing house at Strawberry Hill
Description:
Title from original drawing in the Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University; also the title of a later state with aquatint by F. Jukes., Sheet trimmed within platemark, with loss of title and printmaker's name., State before aquatinting was added?, Title handwritten on mount: Printing house at Strawberry Hill., Lewis Walpole Library: On verso, possibly in the artist's hand: The seat of the Honle. H. Walpole, in the Parish of Twickenham., Manuscript note on verso: "The Seat of the Hon[able] H. Walpole, in the Parish of Twickenham.", and Mounted on board image framed with gray wash-lines, to 37 x 42 cm.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Kirgate, Thomas, 1734-1810,, Strawberry Hill (Twickenham, London, England), and Strawberry Hill Press (Twickenham, London, England)
McArdell, James, approximately 1729-1765, printmaker
Published / Created:
[between 1742 and 1765]
Call Number:
Folio 33 30 Copy 11
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
"Portrait of François du Quesnoy almost half-length to left and holding statuette of three putti, eyes to front, wearing broad-brimmed hat and wide collar."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title, printmaker, and state from: Smith, J.C. British mezzotinto portraits., Proof before letters., Date range for publication from British Museum online catalogue, registration no.: 1902,1011.3256., Sheet trimmed within plate mark on bottom edge., Mounted on page 200 of Richard Bull's copiously extra-illustrated copy of: Walpole, H. A description of the villa of Mr. Horace Walpole. Strawberry Hill : Printed by Thomas Kirgate, 1784. See Hazen, A.T. Bibliography of the Strawberry Hill Press (1973 ed.), no. 30, copy 13., 1 print : mezzotint on laid paper ; sheet 33.1 x 22.8 cm., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., Manuscript title in ink below image: Fiamingo., and For further information, consult library staff.
Depicts two bearded figures in classical attire (possibly Tragedy and Comedy), the former leaning on a tomb while the latter gestures laughingly at a cracked and broken globe on which the countries of France, Canada and Great Britain are identified. A satyr (the Devil), stands holding his scythe before the globe, whence from the broken area of Great Britain emerges a procession of persons mounted on hobby horses, including royalty, clergy, and a man carrying a ship model and bags of money. Time flies above, lifting the curtain on the scene, while a putto with a bubble-pipe flies towards the globe. Within the bubble is a representation of Fortune. On the ground a monkey accosts an owl, while to the right an open scroll proclaims "Life is a jest," a possible reference to John Gay's Epitaph
Alternative Title:
Life is a jest
Description:
Title supplied by cataloger., Sheet cropped within plate mark., and Mounted to 20 x 14 cm.
Title from annotation in a modern hand written in pencil below plate mark., Artist and printmaker from pencil annotations in a contemporary hand below image: J. Buckler del. ; Thos. Higham., Probably a proof state., and Date based on the timing of the final collapse of the Fonthill Abbey tower, which occurred in 1825.