Catherine, Lady Bampfylde
1779
Medium
Mezzotint on laid ivory paper
Dimensions
Image: 59.9 × 37.8 cm (23 5/8 × 14 15/16 in.); Plate: 63.8 × 37.9 cm (25 1/8 × 14 15/16 in.); Sheet: 65.1 × 41.2 cm (25 11/16 × 16 1/4 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
26781
Art Historical Context
**Catherine, Lady Bamplde** is a striking 1779 mezzotint English engraver Thomas Watson, the elegance of this aristocratic sitter on laid ivory paper. Measuring nearly 24 by 15 inches in its image area, the print exemplifies the refined portraiture of late 18th-century Britain, a time when mezzotints like this one served as affordable reproductions of high-society oil paintings, bringing the glamour of nobility into middle-class homes. Mezzotint, Watson's specialty, revolutionized printmaking with its velvety blacks and subtle gradations. The technique begins with a roughened copper plate tha...