Prince Eugène of Savoy (1663-1736)
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About the work
- Location
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Country: Austria
City: Vienna
Place: British Embassy
This mezzotint print shows Prince Eugene of Savoy looking back at the viewer, over his right shoulder. The Prince wears a suit of armour, covered by an ermine-edged velvet cloak. Lettering beneath the image states that it was ‘Sold by I.[John] Smith at ye Lyon & Crown in Russel [sic] Street Covent Garden’. Smith sold numerous mezzotints from his Covent Garden premises. Most were engraved after portraits by Godfrey Kneller, including ‘William, Duke of Gloucester’ (1699); ‘George, Prince of Denmark’ (1704 and 1706 versions) and ‘Sidney Godolphin, first Earl of Godolphin’ (c.1705).
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About the artist
David Richter the elder, after whose portrait this print was made, was born in Stockholm. He was apprenticed to the German painter David Klöker Ehrenstrahl in Stockholm (as were portrait painters Hans Hysing and Michael Dahl). He is thought to have visited Rome in 1679. In the 1690s Richter left Sweden to paint portraits and landscapes at German courts, working as a court painter in Dresden and Berlin, before settling at Vienna, where he died.
John Smith I was a mezzotint engraver and printseller. He collaborated with the print maker Isaac Beckett in the mid 1680s and set himself up as a printseller towards the end of the 17th century. He made prints for both private commissions and public sale and also retouched plates by other engravers. Many of his prints are portraits after the work of his friend Godfrey Kneller. He also produced prints of religious subjects, scenes of classical mythology and landscapes after both Old Masters and contemporary painters.
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Explore
- Places
- Subjects
- male portrait, Prince
- Materials & Techniques
- mezzotint
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Details
- Title
- Prince Eugène of Savoy (1663-1736)
- Date
- Medium
- Mezzotint
- Dimensions
- height: 50.5 cm, width: 34.8 cm
- Acquisition
- Presented by British Embassy staff, Vienna, 1957
- Inscription
- Inscribed with various numbers and collectors' information below image on backing sheet lower right and verso lower right
- GAC number
- 15296