Domenico Tempesti (c.1655-1737) (after)
John Simon (1675-1751) (engraver)
Cosmus Tertius D. G. Magnus Dux Etruria [Cosimo III De Medici]
London: 1st half 18th Century
Black and white mezzotint
14.5 x 10.5 inches, overall
13.5 x 9.75 inches, plate mark
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Mezzotint Portrait of Cosimo III De Medici
John Simon after Domenico Tempesti, 18th C.
John Simon after Domenico Tempesti, 18th C.
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Fine portrait of Cosimo, the grand duke of Tuscany (1670–1723), son and successor to Ferdinand II de Medici. He is shown in armor, set within an oval. The print bears a Latin inscription indicating that the original was painted in 1717 by Domenico Tempesti of Florence.
Domenico Tempesti was an Italian painter and engraver. A student of B. Freneschini and Robert Nanteuil in Paris, he was mainly an engraver of portraits. Three of his pastels are in the collection of the Pitti Palace in Florence.
John (or Jean) Simon was a French protestant refugee who established a career as a mezzotint engraver in London. Trained in Normandy as an engraver, he took up mezzotint after arriving in Britain, and produced a large number of portrait, genre and religious engravings after Mercier, Dahl, Gibson, Hoare, Thomas Murray, Van Loo and others. After the renowned British portraitist Sir Godfrey Kneller had a falling out with the engraver John Smith, he employed Simon to make mezzotints of his portraits.
Inscribed lower left: Dominicus Tempesti Florentius Delin An’o 1717.
Inscribed lower right: I. Simon fec.
References:
Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. Vol. 7, p. 773 (Simon); Vol. 8, p. 248 (Tempesti).
Hind, Arthur M. A History of Etching and Engraving from the 15th Century to the Year 1914. London: Constable and Co., 1927. p. 271 (Simon).
Redgrave, Samuel. A Dictionary of Artists of the English School: Painters, Sculptors, Architects, Engravers and Ornamentists. London: Longmans, Green, and Col., 1874. p. 376 (Simon).