A Flower Piece, from The Houghton Gallery

Richard Earlom was one of many talented printmakers to work on John Boydell’s massive printing project to reproduce Sir Robert Walpole’s painting collection at Houghton. The finished two-volume book included 162 prints, including 27 by Earlom. (The original works were sold to Catherine the Great and are now in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.) Earlom was particularly favored for his ability to re-create painterly tones in his mezzotints, as is evidenced by this Flower Piece and and Fruit Piece.