ABSTRACT

Although most British prints before 1700 were portraits, those engraved in line between 1660 and 1689 have been little studied.1 This paper, focusing on the work of four engravers who produced many brilliant plates, some after their own drawings, assesses their careers; it examines the contexts in which they worked, and the importance of private patrons, artists, authors, booksellers, printsellers and private purchasers, and notices two new developments: the introduction of the new technique of mezzotint, and the start of printed advertisements, which provided a new way of selling singly issued prints.2