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Sallad
Girl (Portrait of Phoebe Hoppner), after
a painting by John Hoppner
Russell 47.IV (?)
mezzotint, 1783, a fine impression of
the 3rd or 4th state (of 5)*, trimmed within the platemark, on medium-weight
cream laid paper,
with an illegible watermark (as it is glued at three corners to a
backing sheet), light overall soiling, otherwise in good
condition
S.
315x247 mm.
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Sallad Girl is
one
of the most charming prints of the English 18th
century.
William Ward, A.R.A., was was one
of the most accomplished engravers of his day, appointed to the Duke of
York and the Prince of Wales, and produced a considerable number of
mezzotint engravings, including a good many in colour.
Published by John Raphael
Smith in 1783, the size of the edition of
this remarkable mezzotint is not known, but is apparently quite
small. We have however located impressions of the same state of
this print in the
British Museum (London, which gives the plate dimensions as 382 x 277)
and the
Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge).
* This mezzotint has been
catalogued by Charles E. Russell,
English Mezzotint Portraits and their States, 1926, which
constitutes a revision of Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits; he identifies 5 states, the final state corresponding to the correction of the title to "SALAD GIRL".
