Richard Earlom after Frans Snyders

A Fruit Market
In the Gallery at Houghton

28.5 x 22 inches

A mezzotint engraving by Richard Earlom after the painting by Snyder [and John Pinxerunt]; published by John Boydell in London in 1765.

Richard Earlom was born in London in 1743 and became a pupil of Cipriani soon devoting his time and energy to mezzotint engraving, at which he excelled. From 1765 onwards he worked for the publisher, John Boydell and it was during this period that he produced many of his best prints including the plates for the Houghton Gallery. He died in Clerkenwell in 1822. Most mezzotint engravers at the time concentrated on portraits after contemporary artists but Earlom chose to reproduce the work of older masters. Prints such as this were meticulous in their preparation, expensive to produce and highly sought after by the upper echelons of society.

In this piece Earlom demonstrates the full scope of the mezzotint method by depicting a huge number of fruits all in exquisite detail. The scene is enlivened by a Dutch gentlewoman squeezing the stall-holder's plums, a cheeky little dog and a naughty monkey upsetting a basket of nectarines.