Bernard Lens II

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
The Royal Family of king William III, by Bernard Lens II The Royal Family by Bernard Lens (II).jpg
The Royal Family of king William III, by Bernard Lens II

Bernard Lens II (1659–1725) was an English engraver, pioneer of mezzotint technique, and publisher.

Bernard Lens II was the son of Bernard Lens I, "an obscure painter" [1] of Dutch origin. Bernard Lens I practiced enamel technique and also authored religious treatises. [2]

The art of Bernard Lens II, largely confined to developing mezzotint technique is an example of a general trend of hist age, when "issues of tonality, if not colour, were developing away from the etching's dependence on line". [2] According to Malcolm Charles Salaman, "most attractive" of his portraits was that of Lady Mary Tudor. [1] Salaman noted Lens for his "practically unique" [3] insights into capabilities of mezzotint in rendering artificial light, evidenced by his series of Fireworks. [1] [3] These prints, commemorating the victories of the Williamite War in Ireland, were "the essential component of representational amplification in politics" of the period. [4]

Bernard Lens II was the father of better known miniaturist Bernard Lens III. Father and son collaborated on joint projects, for example during the 1710 tour of Native American chiefs to England. On the last day of their stay in London Bernard Lens III produced miniature portraits of the "Four Kings"; [5] Bernard Lens II copied these portraits in mezzotint, including a widely copied leaflet presenting all four portraits. [6]

References and notes

  1. 1 2 3 Salaman, The Old Engravers of England, p. 76
  2. 1 2 Worrall, p. 154
  3. 1 2 Salaman, The Graphic Arts of Great Britain, p. 96
  4. Worrall, p. 153
  5. Vaughan, p. 123
  6. Vaughan, pp. 123, 125

Sources

Related Research Articles

Mezzotint

Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, using a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening a metal plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth, called a "rocker". In printing, the tiny pits in the plate retain the ink when the face of the plate is wiped clean. This technique can achieve a high level of quality and richness in the print.

George Vertue

George Vertue was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period.

Francis Seymour Haden

Sir Francis Seymour Haden PPRE, was an English surgeon, best known as an original etcher who championed original printmaking. He was at the heart of the Etching Revival in Britain, and one of the founders of the Society of Painter-Etchers, now the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, as its first president. He was also a collector and scholar of Rembrandt's prints.

Ludwig von Siegen

Ludwig von Siegen was a German soldier and amateur engraver, who invented the printmaking technique of mezzotint, a printing-process reliant on mechanical pressure used to print more complex engravings than previously possible. He was a well-educated aristocrat, and a Lieutenant-Colonel who commanded the personal guard of William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and acted as a personal aide to the ruler, with the title kammerjunker or Chamberlain.

Ernest Stephen Lumsden, was a distinguished painter, noted etcher and authority on etching.

Events from the year 1725 in art.

Malcolm Charles Salaman was an English author, journalist and critic. He was born and died in London.

Engraved gem Artistic technique

An engraved gem, frequently referred to as an intaglio, is a small and usually semi-precious gemstone that has been carved, in the Western tradition normally with images or inscriptions only on one face. The engraving of gemstones was a major luxury art form in the Ancient world, and an important one in some later periods.

Michael Burghers

Michael Burghers was a Dutch illustrator and artist of the 17th century, who spent most of his career in England. He was commissioned to create maps, estate plans, and illustrations of stately houses, by the English aristocracy.

Bernard Lens may refer to one of three British artists:

Samuel William Reynolds

Samuel William Reynolds was a mezzotint engraver, landscape painter and landscape gardener. Reynolds was a popular engraver in both Britain and France and there are over 400 examples of his work in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Bernard Lens III

Bernard Lens III was an English artist known primarily for his portrait miniatures. Lens was the miniature painter at the courts of kings George I and George II, instructor in miniature painting to prince William and princesses Mary and Louise and consultant in fine arts to upper-class families.

Francis Delaram

Francis Delaram, was an English engraver.

John Smith (engraver)

John Smith was an English mezzotint engraver.

Emily Sartain 19th and 20th-century American painter

Emily Sartain was an American painter and engraver. She was the first woman in Europe and the United States to practice the art of mezzotint engraving, and the only woman to win a gold medal at the 1876 World Fair in Philadelphia. Sartain became a nationally recognized art educator and was the director of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women from 1866 to 1920. Her father, John Sartain, and three of her brothers, William, Henry and Samuel were artists. Before she entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and studied abroad, her father took her on a Grand Tour of Europe. She helped found the New Century Club for working and professional women, and the professional women's art clubs, The Plastic Club and The Three Arts Club.

Stipple engraving

Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving by gouging out the dots with a burin, or through an etching process. Stippling was used as an adjunct to conventional line engraving and etching for over two centuries, before being developed as a distinct technique in the mid-18th century.

Sydney Lee was a British wood engraver, active at the beginning of the twentieth century. He was a founder member of the Society of Wood Engravers (1920). He was also a painter in oils and a Royal Academician.

Charles Holme

Charles Holme was an English journalist and art critic, founding editor of The Studio from 1893. He published a series of books promoting peasant art in the first decades of the 20th century.

William Dickinson (engraver)

William Dickinson (1746–1823) was an English mezzotint engraver.

Jan van der Vaart (painter)

Jan van der Vaart or Jan van der Vaardt was a Dutch painter and draughtsman of portraits, landscapes and trompe-l'œil paintings and a mezzotint artist who was active in England for most of his career. He was also an art restorer and art collector.