A Farrier's Shop

William Pether (ca. 1738-1822) after Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797)

A famous large mezzotint, Chaloner Smith 49, Clayton P 8, 505 x 350 mm., ex collection Christopher Lennox-Boyd (not in Lugt. sale in London, 2008). A fine, soft and atmospheric impression on laid paper with good margins, laid down to a sheet of heavy wove paper; some ink and dirt in the margins, a few tiny surface scrapes touched in. Wright of Derby was famous for paintings with unusual lighting effects– from candles, torches, etc. – some of which were images of scientific experiments, others more conventional subjects, but all dramatically and inventively lighted. Pether made something of a specialty of interpreting Wright’s paintings in mezzotint, a medium well suited to dramatic interplay of light and dark. Together they created some of the most striking prints of the eighteenth century.