DOI chapter:
Chapter XII
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62095#0146
Eighteenth-Century Colour-Prints 117
and Angelica Kauffmann. Perhaps his best work in stipple is Mrs. Siddons as “ The
Tragic Muse,” after Sir Joshua Reynolds ; but by far the most popular, printed in colours,
are “The Infant Academy” and “Cymonand Iphigenia,” from the same artist. Haward’s
speciality as a stipple-engraver was miniature subjects, of which “ Flora and Zephyr,”
“ Psyche and Zephyr,” “ Hebe,” and “ Juno,” after Hamilton ; “ Astarte and Zadig,” after
Hone ; and “ Cupid crowning the Arts,” from his own design, are the most charming.
Josi (C.).—Died about 1828. Josi was born in Holland, came early to this country,
and worked under J. R. Smith, a fact he gratefully noted on his plates. He wrote a short
life of Ploos Van Amstel, in which there is a good deal of autobiography. He had
previously published for, or in conjunction with, Van Amstel, a volume of imitations of
Dutch drawings, partly printed in colour in a combination of aquatint and etching. Ploos
Van Amstel was a rich amateur; C. Josi was an engraver, a publisher, and, what we call to-
day, a dealer. He was a man of great taste and knowledge, and, reading between the lines
of any work executed by the two men in common, it is not difficult to imagine that Van
Amstel was largely indebted to Josi for more than the art-treasures he found for him, and
the introduction he wrote to their joint book. Several of Josi’s stipple-prints are popular
in colours, and fetch high prices : for instance, the “ Innocent Revenge” and “ Innocent
Mischief,” after Westall, published in 1795. “The Little Gipsy,” after the same artist, is
an attractive little print, and “The Peasant’s Repast” and “The Labourer’s Luncheon,”
after Morland, deserve a passing notice. There is in existence a portrait by him of Cosway,
executed in stipple and printed in colours, but I have not been fortunate enough to see a
fine example.
Keating (George), 1762-1842, was an Irish engraver of exceptional taste. He was a
pupil of Dickinson, and mezzotint was his real medium, although he executed almost as
many plates with the point as with the scraper. He worked after Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Romney, Gainsborough and Lawrence, and perhaps his talent in selection, as much as his
talent in delineation, is responsible for the esteem in which he was held. But, like the
1779-1841.—His principal work was done in this
He illustrated Ottley’s School of Design,
graved a large number of portraits, after Sir T. Lawrence, in imitation of drawings,
majority of the most cultured of the mezzotinters, he is never quite happy in colour.
Either his plates are too large, or his stippling is too coarse, to suit the exactions of that
delicate mistress. He suffered, like so many of his contemporaries, from the absence of a
formula, for want of an authoritative decision as to the possibilities and limitations of the
printer’s palette. Compare, for example, an early impression in colour after Romney, of
“St. Cecilia” by Keating, with a “Serena,” after the same artist, by J. Jones. The one
engraver set the printer an impossible task, the other exactly understood how far he might
legitimately go. “Camilla Fainting” and “Camilla Recovering,” after Singleton, from
the novel of David Simple, are fair examples of his method.
Lewis (Frederick Christian),
century, when colour-printing was dying out.
and eng
but perhaps the public will be more interested in hearing that he was a pupil of Joseph
Constantine Stadler, another of the engravers after Adam Buck. Lewis used the roulette
in his delicate stipple-work in such a manner as to give his prints a mechanical effect that
is not always pleasing. Many of them were issued in monochrome, slightly touched
with the brush.
and Angelica Kauffmann. Perhaps his best work in stipple is Mrs. Siddons as “ The
Tragic Muse,” after Sir Joshua Reynolds ; but by far the most popular, printed in colours,
are “The Infant Academy” and “Cymonand Iphigenia,” from the same artist. Haward’s
speciality as a stipple-engraver was miniature subjects, of which “ Flora and Zephyr,”
“ Psyche and Zephyr,” “ Hebe,” and “ Juno,” after Hamilton ; “ Astarte and Zadig,” after
Hone ; and “ Cupid crowning the Arts,” from his own design, are the most charming.
Josi (C.).—Died about 1828. Josi was born in Holland, came early to this country,
and worked under J. R. Smith, a fact he gratefully noted on his plates. He wrote a short
life of Ploos Van Amstel, in which there is a good deal of autobiography. He had
previously published for, or in conjunction with, Van Amstel, a volume of imitations of
Dutch drawings, partly printed in colour in a combination of aquatint and etching. Ploos
Van Amstel was a rich amateur; C. Josi was an engraver, a publisher, and, what we call to-
day, a dealer. He was a man of great taste and knowledge, and, reading between the lines
of any work executed by the two men in common, it is not difficult to imagine that Van
Amstel was largely indebted to Josi for more than the art-treasures he found for him, and
the introduction he wrote to their joint book. Several of Josi’s stipple-prints are popular
in colours, and fetch high prices : for instance, the “ Innocent Revenge” and “ Innocent
Mischief,” after Westall, published in 1795. “The Little Gipsy,” after the same artist, is
an attractive little print, and “The Peasant’s Repast” and “The Labourer’s Luncheon,”
after Morland, deserve a passing notice. There is in existence a portrait by him of Cosway,
executed in stipple and printed in colours, but I have not been fortunate enough to see a
fine example.
Keating (George), 1762-1842, was an Irish engraver of exceptional taste. He was a
pupil of Dickinson, and mezzotint was his real medium, although he executed almost as
many plates with the point as with the scraper. He worked after Sir Joshua Reynolds and
Romney, Gainsborough and Lawrence, and perhaps his talent in selection, as much as his
talent in delineation, is responsible for the esteem in which he was held. But, like the
1779-1841.—His principal work was done in this
He illustrated Ottley’s School of Design,
graved a large number of portraits, after Sir T. Lawrence, in imitation of drawings,
majority of the most cultured of the mezzotinters, he is never quite happy in colour.
Either his plates are too large, or his stippling is too coarse, to suit the exactions of that
delicate mistress. He suffered, like so many of his contemporaries, from the absence of a
formula, for want of an authoritative decision as to the possibilities and limitations of the
printer’s palette. Compare, for example, an early impression in colour after Romney, of
“St. Cecilia” by Keating, with a “Serena,” after the same artist, by J. Jones. The one
engraver set the printer an impossible task, the other exactly understood how far he might
legitimately go. “Camilla Fainting” and “Camilla Recovering,” after Singleton, from
the novel of David Simple, are fair examples of his method.
Lewis (Frederick Christian),
century, when colour-printing was dying out.
and eng
but perhaps the public will be more interested in hearing that he was a pupil of Joseph
Constantine Stadler, another of the engravers after Adam Buck. Lewis used the roulette
in his delicate stipple-work in such a manner as to give his prints a mechanical effect that
is not always pleasing. Many of them were issued in monochrome, slightly touched
with the brush.