Art Institute of Chicago

A Blacksmith's Shop

Richard Earlom (British, 1743-1822)

Date

1771

Medium

Mezzotint in black on ivory laid paper

Culture

England

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Working with stunning speed, Richard Earlom produced 200 mezzotint landscapes after Claude Lorrain in three years and made this sizable plate less than three months after Joseph Wright of Derby completed the original painting. This impression is an early proof before letters, but the final published title boasted that “the Right Honorable Lord Melbourne” already owned the painting. He had bought it for 150 guineas directly from the artist’s studio, along with Wright’s Academy by Lamplight . The glow of the iron ingot on the central anvil is no less impressive in Earlom’s mezzotint rendition.

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