Art Archive

John Raphael Smith

John Raphael Smith was a British mezzotint engraver and printmaker whose refined tonal prints reproduced and circulated the portrait and theatrical imagery of his day. His plates range across portraiture, genre scenes, and Shakespearean subjects, rendered in the soft, rich shadows characteristic of mezzotint, often issued in multiple states. This archive presents nine of his sheets, mostly mezzotints in second or third states, spanning impressions up to 1804 and including hand-colored examples.

9 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)

John Raphael Smith — Schoolboys Giving Charity to a Blind Man
Schoolboys Giving Charity to a Blind Man
1781 · Hand-colored mezzotint; second state
 John Raphael Smith — The Songstress
The Songstress
1782 · Stipple engraving; first state of two
 John Raphael Smith — The Silver Age
The Silver Age
January 30, 1778 · Mezzotint; second state of two
 John Raphael Smith — The Late Celebrated Antiquary and Gunsmith of Hull
The Late Celebrated Antiquary and Gunsmith of Hull
June 20, 1804 · Mezzotint on white wove paper
 John Raphael Smith — Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4) (March 1, 1774, Met-Objekt 6029)
Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4) (March 1, 1774, Met-Objekt 6029)
March 1, 1774 · Mezzotint; second state of two
 John Raphael Smith — Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4) (March 1, 1774, Met-Objekt 6030)
Miss Younge, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Love, and Mr. Waldron, in the Characters of Viola, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby Belch, and Fabian (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act 3, Scene 4) (March 1, 1774, Met-Objekt 6030)
March 1, 1774 · Mezzotint; third state of three
 John Raphael Smith — The Weird Sisters (Shakespeare, MacBeth, Act 1, Scene 3)
The Weird Sisters (Shakespeare, MacBeth, Act 1, Scene 3)
March 10, 1785 · Mezzotint
 John Raphael Smith — Miss Lydia Hone – 'Her beauty hangs on the Cheek of Night, like a rich Jewel in an Ethiop's Ear'
Miss Lydia Hone – 'Her beauty hangs on the Cheek of Night, like a rich Jewel in an Ethiop's Ear'
November 30, 1771 · Mezzotint; third state of three
 John Raphael Smith — The First Interview of Werther and Charlotte
The First Interview of Werther and Charlotte
October 16, 1782 · Stipple and etching with hand-coloring