Title: A Flower Piece. In the Cabinet at Houghton.
Artist: Jan van Huysum (1682-1749)
Engraver: Richard Earlom.

On the print: Van Huysom Pinsit. Joseph Farington delint. Richd. Earlom sculpsit.
Medium: Mezzotint, 1778.
Published June 25th 1778 by John Boydell engraver in Cheapside London.
Image size 19 3/4 x 15 1/2" (50.1 x 39.4 cm).

Jan van Huysum was raised in a family of botanical artists, but wanted little to do with the family business. He instead struck out on his own. He had a brilliant sense of composition and worked under a veil of secrecy that has left historians in the dark as to how he went about creating his works.

Richard Earlom was a rather talented English engraver who worked for John Boydell, a print and book seller based in London. He produced 27 of the plates included in the two-volume series "The Houghton Gallery," which reproduced 162 paintings held in the estate of Sir Robert Walpole. This mezzotint was one of the plates included in the series.

Condition: Good condition, small loss in the upper right margin and a short 5/8" tear into the image in the upper left, repaired.