Skip to main content
Item #6636 The Art of Dressing Fish Most humbly dedicated to the Honorable Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce by your most obedient humble servant Ioh. Elias Haid. Johann Elias HAID, after Johann Caspar HEILMANN.

HAID, Johann Elias (1739-1809) after Johann Caspar HEILMANN (1718-1760)

The Art of Dressing Fish Most humbly dedicated to the Honorable Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce by your most obedient humble servant Ioh. Elias Haid

Vienna: 1773. Mezzotint by Johann Elias Haid. Image size (including text): 17 5/8 x 15 inches. Sheet size: 22 x 17 3/4 inches.

A charming image by one of the great names amongst German mezzotinters: Johann Elias Haid (1739-1809)

A pretty young woman is shown seated at the fireside. A pot is already on the fire and she looks up, pausing, before continuing to de-scale a small fish. To her right on the floor are an eel and two other fish that await the same treatment, behind them a bundle containing vegetables and a wooden bin with cabbage and leeks. On the shelf above the fire-place sit a coffee-mill, a pot and a cup. Haid's dedication to the Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce suggest that this plate was intended by him as a show-piece that would be seen by members of the society, who would then recomend his work to would-be employers in Britain. It is above all a spectacular example of the art of mezzotint, with very fine gradations of shadow and a striking portrait.

Le Blanc II, p.332, no.13.

Item #6636

Price: $850.00