Lady Elizabeth Christiana Hervey
Lady Elizabeth Christiana Hervey, Lady Elizabeth Foster, later Duchess of Devonshire (1759 – 1824) c1786 by Swedish Painter Angelica Kauffman (1741 – 1807); as well as a painter, a founding member of the Royal Academy and known for popularizing the crayon method of engraving.
This is a beautiful and tranquil portrait of Lady Elizabeth Christiana Hervey sitting in a forest on some rocks wearing a white dress with large ruffles along the collar and at the edges of the sleeves, a large sun hat that has two large feathers and a black bow tied around it with another set of feathers sticking out the back, a pair of gold chain earrings, gold string chocker necklace, as well as a picture necklace that hangs to her mid section that compliments a gold and black sash.
In the background, directly behind her are two large trees, with bushes that dominate the landscape which over looks a coastal area that is populated with a small mountain range and village by the water.
This is a retouched digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image.
Info Below Derived From Wikipedia.org
Bartolozzi was born in Florence, and as was the custom of the time, it was thought that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a gold and silver smith.
This though would change since the young Bartolozzi showed a great deal of skill and taste in designing; as a result he was thus placed under the supervision of two Florentine artists, including Italian Painter Ignazio Hugford (1703 – 1778) and Italian Rococo Style Painter Giovanni Domenico Ferretti (1692 – 1768) who instructed him in painting.
After three years of art training, he went to Venice to study engraving; and spent six years working for German Engraver and Draughtsman Joseph Wagner (1706 – 1780), an engraver and printseller, before setting up his own workshop.
The first engraving Bartolozzi produced in Venice were plates in the style of Italian Baroque Period Painter Marco Ricci (1676 – 1730) and Giacomo Francesco Zuccarelli (1702 – 1788) a Late Baroque or Rococo Period Landscape Painter.
Then in 1762 Bartolozzi moved to Rome for a short period of time, where he completed a set of engravings representing frescoes at Grottaferrata by Italian Baroque Painter Domenichino (Domenico Zampieri 1581 – 1641) depicting the life of St Nilus.
That set of engravings and his etchings of old master’s works, began to draw public attention throughout Europe; and in 1763 he met Richard Dalton (1715 – 1791), draughtsman, engraver and the English Royal Librarian who was traveling in Italy looking for acquisitions for King George III art collection.
Dalton offered him an appointment as Engraver to the King; which Bartolozzi accepted and left for London in 1764; where he lived for 42 years.
During his time in London he produced a large number of engravings, which included Clytie after Italian Painter Annibale Carracci (1560 – 1609), and of the Virgin and Child, after Italian Baroque Painter Carlo Dolci (1616/7 – 1686).
A large proportion of them are from the works of Italian Painter Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727 – 1785) and British Painter Angelica Kauffman (1741 – 1807). Bartolozzi also contributed a number of plates to Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery.