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Occupations and activities / Medicine and science

John Hunter, 1728 - 1793. Surgeon and anatomist

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William Overend Geller Sir Joshua Reynolds

John Hunter, 1728 - 1793. Surgeon and anatomist Published 1836

Scottish Art

Born in East Kilbride, in 1748 John Hunter moved to London to assist his brother William in his recently founded anatomy school. It was here that he learned the principles of surgery, supplementing his knowledge through various hospital training posts. Recognised the world over as the father of scientific surgery, Hunter is depicted by Reynolds at the height of his career. Anatomical preparations and volumes on fossils, plants and animals surround him, all suggestive of his breadth of interests and his enquiring mind for the world around him. Part of the 7? 7? skeleton of Charles Byrne, the `Irish Giant?, can be glimpsed behind the surgeon.

Details

Acc. No. SP IV 79.3
Medium Mezzotint on paper [?]
Size 42.55 x 34.29 cm
Credit Given by W.B. Hamilton

William Overend Geller (active in London, 19th century)

William Overend Geller was a nineteenth century painter and engraver who was active in London. He was an accomplished master of mixed-method engraving which included various printing techniques such as mezzotinting, aquatinting, engraving and etching. He engraved both works by other artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds and also his own work, spanning a variety of genres. He exhibited at the British Institution from 1834 to 1846.

Sir Joshua Reynolds (English, 1723 - 1792)

Reynolds was born in Plympton, Devon, the son of a headmaster. He was apprenticed to the London portrait painter, Thomas Hudson, in 1740. In 1749 he went to Italy, spending two years in Rome. On his return, in 1753, he set up a studio in London. Reynolds developed a portrait style which attempted to marry the sitter's need for a fashionable likeness with the complexity of traditional religious and historical painting. His compositions are usually interesting but his technique was often unsound, and many of his pictures have deteriorated badly. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts and its first president, a position of huge influence which Reynolds used to set the future course of British art.

Glossary Open

Composition

The arrangement of different elements in a work of art.

Engraving

The printmaking technique in which an image is inscribed on a copper plate with a tool that cuts a groove in the surface. This groove holds the ink that creates the print when it is applied to paper. Also refers to the method of making an incision on a material such as glass.

Etching

A form of printmaking in which a metal plate is covered with a substance called a 'ground', usually wax, into which an image is drawn with a needle. Acid is applied, eroding the areas of the plate exposed but not the areas covered by wax. The action of the acid creates lines in the metal plate that hold the ink from which a print is made when the plate is pressed against paper under pressure.

Genres

A French term that denotes different types of paintings, such as landscape, portrait or still life. The phrase `genre painting? is used specifically to describe works depicting everyday scenes.

History painting

Paintings in which the subject is taken from biblical, classical or other mythological histories.

Mezzotint

Mezzotint is a method of producing prints that was developed in the seventeenth century. A metal printing plate is roughened by scratching a tool across the surface to leave an even burr. When ink is applied to the plate, the burr holds it, and if a sheet in this state is printed at this stage, the resulting impression is entirely black. An image is created by smoothing parts of the abraded surface so that when ink is applied, the smoother areas do not have such a strong ink-holding capacity, and therefore do no leave such a dark impression. A mezzotint printmaker, therefore, works from dark to create light. Mezzotint produces high quality prints, as it allows for fine and subtle tones to be developed.

Royal Academy

An independent institution founded in 1768 with Sir Joshua Reynolds as its first president. It is governed by the Royal Academicians - leading painters, sculptors, printmakers and architects, which number no more than 80 at one time. It organises exhibitions at its London galleries, including an annual Summer Exhibition.

Composition, Engraving, Etching, Genres, History painting, Mezzotint, Royal Academy

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Scottish Art

National Galleries of Scotland

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