Date of Printing: 1791 • Medium: Copperplate Engraving (hand colored) • Subject Category: Mythological • Signed: Unsigned • Period Created: Enlightenment (1700 - 1799) • Plate Size HxWxD cm: 24 x 34 • Leaf Paper Size HxW cm: 52 x 38 • Style: FOLIO Original Vintage • Print on Verso: Blank on verso • Condition: Excellent • Edition Type: 1st Edition - Limited • Paper Type: Laid Paper • Framed: Print only
We are very proud to offer these unique, rare and high quality William Hamilton prints of Ancient Greek motifs. These are painstakingly hand colored to recreate the original motifs found on Ancient Greek vases, and are printed on heavy grade laid paper. A wonderful investment of a high quality print suitable for any presentation. Amazingly, these have been well-kept over the years and are almost pristine in quality.
Here, a scene showing two Satyrs with two women, dancing and performing, and serving libations. Plate 11.
Antique Folio Etching with Engraving Published 1791-95, Naples for "Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases..." by William Hamilton & Johann Tischbein. Fine, later Watercolour & Gouache hand colour.
Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) was ambassador of Great Britain to the Kingdom of Naples, just at a time when the city of Naples experienced its "Golden Age". He was fascinated with excavations found in abundance in Herculaneum and Pompei and in formerly Greek-occupied southern Italy. He soon started collecting objects of all kinds from the ancient past, most of all Greek vases. He bought an important collection of Greek vases (the Porcinari collection) which he had drawn and engraved before he sold them to the British Museum in London. Between 1791 and 1795 four volumes of the "Vases", drawn and engraved by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829), were published under the name of "Sir William Hamilton's collection of engravings from antique vases".
The here offered copper etchings in their attractive terracotta and black background appearance stem from this publication.
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, known as the Goethe Tischbein (15 February 1751, Haina – 26 February 1829, Eutin), was a German painter from the Tischbein family of artists. He began his artistic studies with his uncle, Johann Jacob Tischbein in Hamburg. From 1772 to 1773, he travelled in Holland, studying the Old Masters. After 1777, he established himself as a portrait painter in Berlin and became a member of the Masonic Lodge. He was able to visit Rome in 1779 and continue his studies, thanks to a stipend from the Kunsthochschule Kassel. During this time, his style progressed from Rococo to Classicism. When he ran out of money in 1781, he settled in Zurich.
In 1783, he was able to return to Rome with a grant from Duke Ernest II, obtained upon the recommendation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, to whom he had been introduced by Johann Kaspar Lavater. He remained in Italy until 1799 and became friends with Goethe, travelling with him to Naples in 1787. During his last ten years there, he was director of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Napoli. He left following the French occupation, when the anti-royalist Parthenopean Republic was established.
After 1808, he worked for Grand Duke Peter I. From then until his death, he was a resident of Eutin.