Isaac Beckett & John Smith

Isaac Beckett and John Smith - Petrus Lelly Eques or Sir Peter Lely

Petrus Lelly Eques (Sir Peter Lely)

Isaac Beckett & John Smith - "Petrus Lelly Eques" (Sir Peter Lely): This original Mezzotint is printed upon early nineteenth century Whatman watermarked wove paper and with large, full margins as published in the final state by Josiah Boydell in 1811. This portrait of Petrus Lelly Eques is listed as a scarce engraving. It is a fine example of the early English portrait mezzotint by the British artists, Isaac Beckett & John Smith. The National Portrait Gallery includes s of each state of this important mezzotint in its permanent collection.

Petrus Lelly Eques (Sir Peter Lely)

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Title:	Petrus Lelly Eques (Sir Peter Lely)
Engraver:	Beckett, Isaac (Kent, 1653 - London, 1719)
Engraver:	Smith, John (Daventry, 1652 - Northampton, 1743)
Designer:	Lelly, Petrus Eques 'Sir Peter Lely' (Soest, Westphalia, 1618 - Covent Garden, 1680)
Date:	c. 1684 (Boydell Edition: 1811)
Medium:	Original Mezzotint
Publisher:	(1) Alexander Browne, (2) John Smith, (3) Josiah Boydell
Note:	Isaac Beckett: The first major English mezzotint engraver, Isaac Beckett was first apprenticed to a calico printer in London. He was introduced to the newly invented technique of mezzotinting by John Lloyd, a printseller. During his career Beckett engraved mezzotint portraits, principally after the designs of Sir Peter Lely, Godfrey Kneller, Wissing and Riley. He also engraved religious, mythological and landscape scenes after Heemskerk and other masters.
	Isaac Beckett's earlier mezzotints were published by Alexander Browne or Edward Cooper. Around 1685, however, he became his own publisher and printseller and operated an establishment at the Old Bailey, London. Here he took on John Smith as both a pupil and assistant. Smith acquired both Beckett's business and inventory of plates around 1688.
	Among Isaac Beckett's greatest mezzotint portraits are Petrus Lelly Eques, Sir Godfrey Kneller, King Charles II, James Duke of York, The Duchess of Grafton and Lady Williams.
	John Smith: Considered the finest mezzotint engraver of his era, John Smith was first apprenticed to a painter in Moorfields. After his apprenticeship Smith moved to London and studied mezzotint techniques from both Isaac Beckett and J. Van der Vaart. His earliest mezzotints were admired by Sir Godfrey Kneller who commissioned Smith to engrave a large number of his portrait paintings. Many of Smith's finest mezzotints are after the designs of Kneller and include portraits of Charles II, William III, Queen Mary, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, Alexander Pope, John Locke, Sir Christopher Wren, William Congreve and Sir Godfrey Kneller. Smith also produced mezzotints after Sir Peter Lely and Italian Renaissance masters.
	As mentioned earlier, John Smith acquired Isaac Beckett's publishing house around 1688. He also gained an inventory of Beckett's mezzotint plates. Among these engravings was Petrus Lelly Eques. Smith is known to have reworked many of Beckett's mezzotints and republished them under his publisher's address. As both engravers worked at a comparable, accomplished manner its is impossible to determine exactly what can be credited to either Beckett or Smith. Suffice it to say that the talents of both great masters are involved in the creation of this fine mezzotint engraving.
	Peter Lely received his formal training in Haarlem, Holland, under Pieter Franz de Grebber. He moved to England in 1641 and initially painted landscapes and historical scenes. Lely became a leading portraitist in 1643 when he painted the likenesses of Charles I, Prince William and Princess Mary. Lely remained in England during Cromwell's years in power. Upon the Restoration, Charles II appointed Lely as his principal painter and made him a baronet in 1679. Some of the most famous British portraits of the seventeenth century are from Peter Lely's hand, including those of Charles II, the Beauties of the Court of Charles II, James, Duke of Ormond, Samuel Butler, his self-portrait, Nell Gwynn, Mary Davis and the Duchess of Cleveland. The self-portrait painting which formed the genesis for Petrus Lelly Eques is now in the permanent collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
	This remarkable portrait of Sir Peter Lely is a most important example of the first great era of the English mezzotint. A purely tonal method of engraving, mezzotinting was developed by a German soldier (Ludwig von Siegen) in the mid seventeenth century. By 1665 the Dutch engravers, Wallerant Vaillant and Abraham Blooteling, produced the first masterpieces in mezzotint. The first English mezzotint was created in 1669. Initial attempts were mainly produced by amateur artists.
	A major influence upon the course of the English Mezzotint came from Britain's premier court painter, Sir Peter Lely. Lely saw this newly invented medium as a means to promote his portrait paintings. Lely was not the first painter to promote his work through the graphic arts. Fifty years earlier Sir Anthony van Dyck had formed a school of engravers to translate his portraits into line engraving. The result was The Iconography, which was first published as a completed set in 1645. Lely, however, recognized the more painterly potential of the mezzotint over line engraving, and through his attentions the first great English mezzotint engravers emerged. Isaac Beckett stands at the vanguard of English mezzotint engraving. His student, John Smith, succeeded him as the next great master of the medium. These great artists helped to establish England as the dominant center for the art of the mezzotint by the late seventeenth century. Throughout the entire eighteenth century, the English mezzotint continued to reign supreme.
	Publishing History: The publishing history of Petrus Lelly Eques (Sir Peter Lely) interestingly involves many of the most important engravers, painters and publishers of the first generation of English mezzotinting. I am indebted by recent research projects published by the National Portrait Gallery, London; most particularly, "The early history of mezzotint and the prints of Richard Tompson and Alexander Browne" and "Catalogue of prints published by Alexander Browne". These fine articles will be found at the National Gallery's website, http://www.npg.org.uk.
	According to the above quoted source Petrus Lelly Eques exists in four distinct states. The first state is both unfinished and unlettered and is a single, unique working proof. It is in the collection of the British Museum, London. The second state is the first published edition, c. 1684. The lettering along the lower margin originally included Beckett's name, "I. Beckett fecit", between that of the designer ("Petrus Lellij Eques pinxit") and that of the publisher. Also, the address of the original publisher, "Sold by Alex: Browne at ye blew/ballcony in little queen street" appears to the lower right. Alexander Browne (active 1659-1706) was a leading, early publisher of English mezzotints.
	The catalogue lists the third state as "finely retouched", meaning additional mezzotint engraving has occurred. There is no doubt that the retouching was executed by John Smith (please see the biographical information below), as the plate now bears his address, "Sold by J. Smith at ye Lyon & Crown in Russell Street Covent Garden". Also in either this or the fourth state, Beckett's name has mysteriously been erased. In all probability this third state was published by Smith around 1690.
	The fourth and final state emerges more than one hundred years later. The great London publishing house created by John Boydell (1719-1804) dominated the British print world in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Upon his death the publishing house passed to his nephew, Josiah Boydell (1750-1817). In 1811 Josiah Boydell published his Heads of Illustrious ...Persons which apparently contained both contemporary plates and plates of past generations. Engravings from this edition were printed upon Whatman wove paper bearing the watermark date of "1811". This is the case with this of Petrus Lelly Eques.
	Amazingly, this fourth state shows little sign of wear. A classic mezzotint engraving can yield around 400 s before deterioration of tone and hue becomes noticeable. thus earlier editions must have been quite small in number. The National Portrait Gallery includes s of each second, third and fourth states of this important mezzotint in its permanent collection.
Raisonne:	National Portrait Gallery: Research, Catalogue of Prints Published by Alexander Browne, http://www.npg.org.uk/live/mellonbrowne2.asp
	Catalogue #27, Fourth State of Four as published by J. Boydell in 1811.
	Fourth state s will be found in the following public collections; the British Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the New Haven Dept. of Rare Books, Windsor.
Reference:	National Portrait Gallery: Research, The Early History of Mezzotint and the Prints of Richard Tompson and Alexander Browne, http://www.npg.org.uk/live/mellon.asp
	G. C. Williamson, Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, London, Bell & Sons, 1930, Vol. 1, p. 105, Vol. 3, pp. 205 & 206, and Vol. 5, pp. 93 & 94 .
Size:	13 1/8 X 9 3/4 (Sizes in inches are approximate, height preceding width of plate-mark or image.)
	Framed and Matted with 100% Archival Materials
	View larger Framed Image

Buy Now	Price: $895.00 US
Condition:	Printed upon early nineteenth Whatman watermarked wove paper and with large, full margins as published in the final state by Josiah Boydell in 1811. Containing several very faint scrapings and creasings, else a strongly printed with little sign of wear and in good condition throughout. Petrus Lelly Eques is listed as a scarce engraving. A finer example of the early British mezzotint would be most difficult to find.
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