Art Institute of Chicago

Calisto in Her Retirement

Richard Earlom (British, 1743–1822)

Date

published 1778

Medium

Mezzotint over etching in black on cream laid paper

Culture

England

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Richard Earlom’s painterly handling of flesh tones amply demonstrates the charms of reproducing bathing beauties from the Dutch Baroque in mezzotint. Earlom designed this voyeuristic glimpse of the lustrous, somewhat demure nymph after an Anthony van Dyck painting. Alessandro Mastro-Valerio’s search for the ideal printmaking medium likely culminated in seeing a similar work during his inspiring visit to the Century of Progress Exposition in 1933. At least one mezzotint was on display at the Art Institute at the time: The Junction of Severn and Wye , from J. M. W. Turner’s Liber Studiorum

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