Shepherd Playing the Flute
1774
Medium
Mezzotint in brown on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 19.1 × 25.8 cm (7 9/16 × 10 3/16 in.); Plate: 20.7 × 25.9 cm (8 3/16 × 10 1/4 in.); Sheet: 21.3 × 26.5 cm (8 7/16 × 10 7/16 in.)
Classification
mezzotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
108971
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Beginning in 1774, Richard Earlom produced 200 mezzotints after a famous album of Claude Lorrain landscape drawings then in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth (now at the British Museum). Published in two volumes in 1777, the Liber Veritatis became Earlom’s most influential publication. Most famously, it inspired J. M. W. Turner’s partially mezzotint Liber Studiorum, especially his “elevated pastoral” category.
About the Artist
Richard Earlom · 1728–1794
Richard Earlom (1743–1822) stands as one of the supreme masters of mezzotint engraving in British art history, whose technical virtuosity and dedication to reproductive printmaking brought the works of Old Masters to unprecedented audiences. Born in London on May 14, 1743, Earlom spent his entire career transforming paintings and drawings into prints of extraordinary quality, elevating reproductiv...