Monument to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708-1778) Prime Minister in Westminster Abbey

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Painter and mezzotinter, Johann Gerhard Huck, was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, where his parents ran a print shop. He trained there from 1773, before spending some six years in London, as pupil of the engraver and publisher, Valentine Green. Huck later returned to Dusseldorf to publish his own prints.
Valentine Green, engraver of portraits and historical subjects after works by his contemporaries, was born at Salford, Worcestershire. He was intended for a career at the Bar, but without his father’s consent, became apprenticed to an obscure line engraver in Worcester. When he came to London in 1765 he began working in mezzotint and engraved nearly 400 plates over the next 40 years. In 1775 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy and was appointed Mezzotint Engraver to George III. In 1789 he obtained the exclusive privilege of engraving the pictures of the Dusseldorf, but was ruined when the city was besieged in 1798. In 1805 he was made Keeper of the newly founded British Institution, a post he retained until his death.

People

William, 1st Earl of Chatham Pitt (1708 - 1778)

Places

England, London, Westminster Abbey, Westminster

Subjects

statue (as Subject), sculpture (as Subject), allegory & symbolism, earth, Ocean, coat of arms, Earl, Prime Minister, Britannia, Prudence, Fortitude, monument, abbey

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

Johann Gerhard Huck (c.1759 - 1811)
Valentine Green (1739 - 1813)

Title

Monument to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708-1778) Prime Minister in Westminster Abbey

Date

published 1 January 1784

Medium

Mezzotint

Dimensions

height: 89.20 cm, width: 58.90 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Colnaghi, April 1952

Provenance

Liechtenstein Collection

GAC number

1544