The Hop Pickers / Les Ceullieurs d’Houblon

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  • About the work
    Location
    Country: France
    City: Paris
    Place: British Embassy
  • About the artist
    George Smith of Chichester, a prolific painter of landscapes, was born in Chichester to a man who combined the trades of baker and cooper with the calling of a Baptist minister. His brothers, William and John, were also landscape painters; George often collaborated on works with his brother John. George Smith exhibited at the Society of Arts in London during the 1760s and early 1770s (he won prizes there in 1760, 1761 and 1763) and at the Royal Academy. His paintings were popular and many of them found a wider audience through the medium of engraving. Before he specialised in landscape painting, Smith painted still lifes; and in addition to practising as an artist, he was also a poet and a musician.
    Francois Vivares was born near Montpellier, France. He was apprenticed to a tailor but made drawings, etchings and engravings in his spare time. He moved to London, aged 18, to study under French engraver and draughtsman Jean-Baptiste-Claude Chatelain and later under Italian painter Jacopo Amigoni. By 1744 he was publishing prints. He opened a print shop near Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square), producing prints after his own work, that of his pupils and ‘of the best Masters’. He became one of the most renowned landscape engravers of his time and is particularly known for engravings after the works of French painter Claude Lorrain. In 1766, he became a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists. He died in London, aged 71.
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  • Details
    Title
    The Hop Pickers / Les Ceullieurs d’Houblon
    Date
    4 August 1760
    Medium
    Engraving
    Dimensions
    height: 39.4 cm, width: 48.4 cm
    Acquisition
    Purchased from Colnaghi, October 1953
    GAC number
    2326