Neptunus & Amphitrite

Date1708

Artist/Maker John Smith (ca. 1652 - ca. 1742)

Maker Tiziano Vecelli Titian

OriginEngland, London

MediumBlack and white mezzotint with line engraving

DimensionsOverall: 18 3/4 × 13in. (47.6 × 33cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1979-330

DescriptionLower margin reads: "Naptunus & Amphitrite. / Ex Tabula Titiani J Smith fecit Londini, 1708."
Label TextThis set of prints are modeled after Tiziano Vecellio's (Titian) paintings known as the "Loves of the Gods" which were owned by the first Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace in England.1 Works depicting historical or classical figures and scenes, like these prints, were considered the most prestigious works an artist could create.2 In 1717, Williamsburg resident John Custis IV mentions engravings of "Loves of the Gods" when he wrote to London merchants to place an order for new prints of "good quality" for the passage of his newly built house. He wrote: "I desire you will lay out 40 sh 50 str in good Comicall diverting prints to hang in the passage of my house; lett [sic] them bee [sic] good of the sort, or seend none painting and poetry admit of no medium, some you sent in the last year were well done, (VIZ Mars &Venus, & Neptune and Amphitrite)..."3 .
These prints, which were presumably in his possession at the time he wrote his letter, might have been by Smith, those by Pierre Dervet's copies published in 1712, or other imitators.(4)

1. Timothy Clayton, "The English Print: 1688-1802," (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997) 70.
2.Ibid. 18-19.
3. John Custis, "John Custis to Bell & Dee," (From the Virginia Historical Society. "Williamsburg, 1717". Letter. The Letterbook of John Custis IV of Williamsburg: 1717-1742, 2005).
4.Timothy Clayton, "The English Print: 1688-1802," (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997) 18-19.