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Hill-Stone, Inc.
after Joseph Wright of Derby
Miss Kitty Dressing
Mezzotint
England
1781
Miss Kitty Dressing, mezzotint by Thomas Watson after Joseph Wright of Derby..
Plate: 455 x 330 mm 17 15/16 x 13 inches
description
After JOSEPH WRIGHT of Derby Derby 1743 – 1797
Miss Kitty Dressing.
Mezzotint, by Thomas Watson (London 1743-1781) after Wright of Derby; 1781. Goodwin 65 the second of two states, with the full lettered text below the image. A brilliant impression in very good condition. The printed surfaces quite fresh, two carefully closed marginal tears, one just reaching the edge of the printed area at the lower right and two soft diagonal creases in the text area.
Wright of Derby developed a style of depicting scenes in artificial, crepuscular light. His extraordinary handling of such scenes has its origins in Dutch and Flemish art of the 17th century. While earlier art depicted both genre scenes as well as religious subjects, Wright soon adopted the current interest in scientific analysis and demonstration, creating some of the masterpieces of English art in the 18th century, among them An Experiment on The Air Pump, 1767-68, and A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, 1766.
Wright also produced landscapes and genre scenes, among them, The Blacksmith’s Shop, of 1771, and The Iron Forge, of 1772. His painting Two Girls dressing a kitten by Candlelight, of 1768-70, was engraved by Watson in 1781, with a slightly changed title, Miss Kitty Dressing. The two girls in the image are Wright’s daughters, whom Wright depicted in his Experiment on the Air Pump.
Images from Wright’s paintings soon circulated widely through what had become virtually an English graphic monopoly, the mezzotint. This medium, whose chief visual characteristic was an infinite gradation of tones from deepest dark to light, became the medium whose practitioners produced some of the finest graphic works of the period. Miss Kitty Dressing, the new, slightly modified title of the mezzotint, constitutes a typical example of such a work after Wright.
The personal intimacy of the subject, if anything slightly emphasized in the mezzotint, deserves note. Until the mid-18th century cats were feared as associated with demonic agencies. The acceptance of cats as amusing, adored, and domestic companions would have been relatively new. In the mezzotint, the kitten is a playmate of the two girls, and has been dressed with an elegant feathered bonnet. This detail, absent in the painting, may or may not have been added to the mezzotint with Wright’s knowledge , but kitten may now be seen as even more accepting of the costume, and ever more the participant of play with its companions.
Miss Kitty Dressing.
Mezzotint, by Thomas Watson (London 1743-1781) after Wright of Derby; 1781. Goodwin 65 the second of two states, with the full lettered text below the image. A brilliant impression in very good condition. The printed surfaces quite fresh, two carefully closed marginal tears, one just reaching the edge of the printed area at the lower right and two soft diagonal creases in the text area.
Wright of Derby developed a style of depicting scenes in artificial, crepuscular light. His extraordinary handling of such scenes has its origins in Dutch and Flemish art of the 17th century. While earlier art depicted both genre scenes as well as religious subjects, Wright soon adopted the current interest in scientific analysis and demonstration, creating some of the masterpieces of English art in the 18th century, among them An Experiment on The Air Pump, 1767-68, and A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, 1766.
Wright also produced landscapes and genre scenes, among them, The Blacksmith’s Shop, of 1771, and The Iron Forge, of 1772. His painting Two Girls dressing a kitten by Candlelight, of 1768-70, was engraved by Watson in 1781, with a slightly changed title, Miss Kitty Dressing. The two girls in the image are Wright’s daughters, whom Wright depicted in his Experiment on the Air Pump.
Images from Wright’s paintings soon circulated widely through what had become virtually an English graphic monopoly, the mezzotint. This medium, whose chief visual characteristic was an infinite gradation of tones from deepest dark to light, became the medium whose practitioners produced some of the finest graphic works of the period. Miss Kitty Dressing, the new, slightly modified title of the mezzotint, constitutes a typical example of such a work after Wright.
The personal intimacy of the subject, if anything slightly emphasized in the mezzotint, deserves note. Until the mid-18th century cats were feared as associated with demonic agencies. The acceptance of cats as amusing, adored, and domestic companions would have been relatively new. In the mezzotint, the kitten is a playmate of the two girls, and has been dressed with an elegant feathered bonnet. This detail, absent in the painting, may or may not have been added to the mezzotint with Wright’s knowledge , but kitten may now be seen as even more accepting of the costume, and ever more the participant of play with its companions.
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