Miravan
1772
Medium
Mezzotint on off-white laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 46 × 35.4 cm (18 1/8 × 13 15/16 in.); Plate: 50.5 × 35.5 cm (19 15/16 × 14 in.); Sheet: 66.9 × 52.5 cm (26 3/8 × 20 11/16 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
116242
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Being relatively cheap and widely available, prints reproducing Joseph Wright of Derby's paintings were largely responsible for establishing his reputation. Valentine Green's mezzotint captures the drama and exoticism of Wright's painting of the story of Miravan, a young nobleman who raided the tomb of his ancestor looking for treasure, only to find an inscription rebuking him for his greed and for disturbing the eternal rest of the dead. The rich blacks and bright highlights of the mezzotint te...
About the Artist
Valentine Green · 1739–1813
**Valentine Green (1739–1813)** was a leading British mezzotint engraver and print publisher whose work helped elevate the medium’s status in 18th-century Britain. Born on 3 October 1739 in Salford Priors near Evesham, Warwickshire, he initially trained for the law but abandoned it after two years in a solicitor’s office. He then studied line engraving under Robert Hancock in Worcester before movi...