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Jacob Tonson I (1655-1736)
Jacob Tonson I (1655-1736)
Jacob Tonson I (1655-1736)

Jacob Tonson I (1655-1736)

After (German, 1646-1723)
Engraver (German, 1695 - 1756)
Date1733
MediumMezzotint
DimensionsOverall: 14 7/8 x 10 9/16in. (37.8 x 26.8cm)
Image: 12 1/2 x 9 7/8in. (31.8 x 25.1cm)
Plate: 13 7/8 x 9 7/8in. (35.2 x 25.1cm)
ClassificationsPRINTS
Credit LineOwen D. Young Collection. Gift of Mrs. Josephine Young Case and Mr. Richard Young
Object number66.215
Description
On View
Not on view
Collections
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextJohn Faber's engraving of the prominent London bookseller and publisher Jacob Tonson was copied from an oil portrait (now in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London), that the painter Godfrey Kneller, England's most prominent portraitist during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, painted of him in 1717. Unlike many of the mezzotint portraits published in 18th-century England, this print depicts a person who was not an aristocrat. Tonson is shown holding a copy of John Milton's (1608-74) Paradise Lost, his most successful publishing venture. PDS