print
- Museum number
- 2010,7081.650
- Title
- Object: The Angel appearing to the Shepherds
- Description
-
A group of shepherds gathered on a hill-side with their sheep, some drinking from a water-trough in the right foreground, one man sleeping with his head against a tree-trunk on the left, three others and one of the lambs looking up at the angel which appears in a burst of light in upper right; after Bassano.
Hand-coloured mezzotint and etching
- Production date
- 1752-1784 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 350 millimetres
-
Width: 250 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Apparently copied from Sadeler's engraving after Bassano, in reverse direction (Hollstein 180; W,9.117).
There is an exact copy of this mezzotint in reverse direction, published by Carington Bowles. It is not known which was made first, but since this is in reverse direction to the Sadeler, it presumably precedes the Bowles, rather than vice-versa. The copy must have been made through a transfer process, since they correspond absolutely, down to the etched lines. The inscription is also the same (but for the publication line) and appears to have been engraved by the same hand. See 2010,7081.651 for an impression.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 2010
- Acquisition notes
- Acquired with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Friends of the British Museum, the Art Fund, Mrs Charles Wrightsman, the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, and numerous individual donors.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2010,7081.650
