Enfilade

Johann Jakob Mettenleiter, Double Portrait of Johann Elias Haid and Johann Jakob Mettenleiter, ca. 1778–84, oil on copper, 31 × 38 cm (image courtesy Boris Wilnitsky Fine Arts, Vienna).

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The eighteenth-century in the latest issue of Print Quarterly (with apologies for being so slow! -Craig).

Print Quarterly 37.3 (September 2020)

A R T I C L E S

Julie Mellby, “Audubon’s Copperplates for Birds of America”, pp. 283–93.

After a brief introduction to John James Audubon’s (1785–1851) life and the publication history of his famous Birds of America, this article explores the afterlife of the copperplates. Partly damaged during a fire and later sold as used copper, some of these objects were eventually acquired and restored by William E. Dodge II (1832–1903). Their history interestingly overlaps with the history of important American institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Princeton University Art Museum.

Marianne A. Yule, “A Friendship Portrait of J. J. Mettenleiter and J. E. Haid”, pp. 294–99.

This piece focuses on a newly discovered painting and its related mezzotint, the only known collaborative work between the printmaker John Elias Haid (1739–1809) and the painter Johann Jakob Mettenleiter (1750–1825). It explores the history of the image and identifies all the prints depicted therein.

N O T E S  A N D  R E V I E W S

Peter Van Der Coelen, Review of Henk van Nierop, The Life of Romeyn de Hooghe 1645–1708: Prints, Pamphlets, and Politics in the Dutch Golden Age (2018), pp. 314–16.

The note, as the book it reviews, sheds light on the lesser known, yet extremely prolific Romeyn de Hooghe (1645–1708), a printmaker operating between the Netherlands and Paris. His prints depict the political events of the day, such as the French invasion of Holland, as well as fashionable pastimes, as exemplified by his illustrations for a treatise on wrestling. De Hooghe’s life and work attest to the rising dominance of France all over Europe in the age of Louis XIV, both politically and artistically.

Domenico Pino, Review of Xavier F. Salomon, Andrea Tomezzoli and Denis Ton, Tiepolo in Milan: The Lost Frescoes of Palazzo Archinto (2019), pp. 319–21.

The catalogue under review reconstructs a cycle of frescoes commissioned for an aristocratic Milanese palace and destroyed during World War II. The note focuses on one chapter in particular, analysing Giambattista Tiepolo’s (1697–1770) early career as a book illustrator in Verona and Milan in the 1720s and ’30s, reading it in the context of the cultural fervour that spread all over Italy following the war of Spanish succession.

Domenico Pino, Review of Canaletto & Venezia (2019), pp. 321–22.

The note offers an overview of eighteenth-century Venice and the cultural fervour it hosted. The exhibition catalogue explores in detail the artistic career of Canaletto (1697–1768), Giambattista Tiepolo (1697–1770) and Giambattista Piazzetta (1682–1754), and discusses the developments of artistic trends in furniture, glass, porcelain and architecture in Venice throughout the century up to the fall of the Republic in 1797.

Elizabeth Rudy, Review of Aude Prigot, La Réception de Rembrandt à traversles estampes en France au XVIIIe siècle (2018), pp. 322–25.

The note explores the impact Rembrandt had on artists from the eighteenth through to the twenty-first century. In particular it focuses on the practice of collecting his prints in eighteenth-century France and that of copying his composition in the later part of the century. The main case studies are five French artists, among them Claude-Henri Watelet (1718–86) and Dominique Vivant-Denon (1747–1825).