John Smith after Sir Godfrey Kneller

The Hon.ble Mrs Sherard

9½ x 13¼ inches

A three-quarter length mezzotint portrait by Smith after Kneller; published in London in 1699.

It has proven very difficult to work out exactly who Mrs Sherard might have been but the current consensus is that she is Lucy, the second daughter of Bennett, the 2nd Lord Sherard who was a liberal and encourager of the fine arts. She married the Duke of Rutland in 1713 and lived to be 66 years old when she died in 1751. If this is so then she would be about 14 years old in this charming print. Whoever she might be one thing is certain, this is a fine example of just how accomplished John Smith was as a mezzotint engraver earning his reputation as the father of English mezzotint portraiture.