About this artwork
Valentine Green was primarily self-taught in the art of mezzotint and mastered it early on in his career. The medium allowed the artist to achieve new textural effects, especially when copying from paintings. His large-scale Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire was originally painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. To obtain a rich painterly texture, Green used a uniquely fine-toothed “rocker,” a tool that roughened the surface of the entire plate, producing a particularly dark overall ink tone when it was printed. The tones were then burnished and scraped to produce the white heightening of the image. The resulting composition exudes the refinement and soft elegance that only Green could produce. He printed close to 400 mezzotints during his career; all appeared in limited editions, which was made necessary by the delicacy of his plates.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Valentine Green
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Title
- Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
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Place
- England (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Made 1780
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Medium
- Mezzotint on paper
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Dimensions
- Image: 60 × 38.5 cm (23 5/8 × 15 3/16 in.); Sheet: 63.3 × 38.5 cm (24 15/16 × 15 3/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Stephen Y. Hord
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Reference Number
- 1945.79
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/52928/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
