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SMITH, After George (1713-1776, artist) of Chichester - William WOOLLETT (1735-1785)
The Apple Gatherers. Engraved after an Original Picture of Mr. Geo. Smith, in the Possession of Mr. Bradford
London: Laurie & Whittle, 12 May 1794. Copper engraving by William Woollett, coloured by hand. Expertly repaired tears, old creasing. Sheet size: 17 x 22 inches.
A fine image of an idealized sylvan landscape: a work by 'the first English engraver whose works were admired and purchased on the continent' (DNB).
William Woollett 'son of Philip Woollett, a flax-dresser at Maidstone, was born there on 15 Aug. 1735. Shortly after that date his father, having won a share in a lottery prize, took the Turk's Head inn at Maidstone, and there young Woollett gave the first indication of his artistic talent by scratching the sign of the house on a pewter pot. He was, in consequence, sent to London, where he became a pupil of John Tinney, and also studied drawing in the St. Martin's Lane Academy... Boydell... commissioned him to engrave the Niobe of Richard Wilson. This established his reputation as the ablest landscape engraver who had yet appeared in England.. So far Wollett had confined his practice almost exclusively to landscape work, but on the appearance in 1771 of West's Death of General Wolfe, he undertook to engrave it, sharing the venture with Boydell and William Wynne Ryland. The plate, which is his most celebrated work, was published in January 1776, and achieved extraordinary popularity both in England and abroad. On a proof of it being shown to the king shortly before its publication, the title of Historical Engraver to His Majesty was conferred upon Woollett... Some of his topographical drawings were engraved by Mason, Canot, and Elliott. In 1766 Woollett became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, of which he was also secretary for several years. He resided for some time in Green Street, Leicester Square, and later in Charlotte Street, Rathbone Place, where he died...on 23 May 1785...
Woollett stands in the front rank of the professors of his art, and he was the first English engraver whose works were admired and purchased on the continent. In his landscapes he succeeded, by a skilful combination of the graver and needle, in rendering the effects of distance, light, and atmosphere in a way not previously attempted, and his figure subjects are executed with remarkable vigour and purity of line.' (DNB).
William, George and John Smith were three artistically gifted brothers known as 'the Smiths of Chichester'. George, the most talented of the three, specialised in landscape painting. 'He depicted the rural and pastoral scenery of Sussex and other parts of England in a pleasing ... manner, based on the study of Claude and Poussin ... he was throughout his life a much-admired artist' (DNB).
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#18830 $1,500.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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