print
- Museum number
- 2010,7081.651
- 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 left foreground, one man sleeping with his head against a tree-trunk on the right, three others and one of the lambs looking up at the angel which appears in a burst of light in upper left.
Hand-coloured mezzotint and etching
- Production date
- 1752-1784 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 353 millimetres
-
Width: 253 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Apparently copied from Sadeler's engraving after Bassano, in the same direction (Hollstein 180; W,9.117).
There is an exact copy of this in reverse direction, of another mezzotint published by Sayer. It is not known which was made first, but since this is in the same direction as the Sadeler, it probably derives from the Sayer, rather than vice-verse. 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 2010,7081.650 for an impression.
This plate was advertised in Bowles' catalogues for 1784, p. 108 no. 188, priced 1s. plain, 2s. coloured; and 1790, p. 98 no. 191, priced 2s. plain, 3s. coloured.
States [recorded in the Lennox-Boyd database]
(i) lettered with the title, quotation over two lines, 'And the angel said unto them Fear not ... Christ the Lord. - Luke Ch. II, v. 10, 11.' and 'Carington Bowles excudit. // 99 // Printed for Carington Bowles, Map & Printseller, No. 69 in St. Pauls Church Yard, London.'
(ii) republished by Roake & Varty; publication line altered to 'Printed for Roake and Varty, Map & Printsellers, no. 31 Strand, London.'; the number altered to '9'.
- 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
- 2010,7081.651
