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  Mezzotint by William Ward of 'Daniel in the Lions' Den' by Sir Peter Paul Rubens  
                 
  Click for Scran Resource
© The British Museum 		 

Rubens' painting of Daniel in the Lions' Den was copied by a number of engravers. During his tour of Scotland in 1767, William Hayley called on the Glasgow printers, the Foulis brothers, and bought 'a respectable print, very nicely impressed on satin' of the famous work in the Long Gallery at Hamilton Palace.

This illustration shows a mezzotint by William Ward (1766-1826), of 1789, now in the British Museum. A mezzotint is made by roughening the copper plate so that it will print a dense black, and then gradually scraping the plate to create lighter and lighter effects. The result is an impression with velvety richness and a wide variety of tones.

 
                 
  William Ward and his brother James were pupils of the celebrated mezzotint engraver, John Raphael Smith. William married the daughter of the drunken landscape and genre artist George Morland in 1786 and reproduced many of Morland's paintings. James went on to become the most important animal painter of the generation.  
                 
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  [ related links ]              
    Click for further informationDetail of Rubens engraving     Click for further informationEntry in 1643 Palace inventory  
                 
  Click for further informationWordworth's poem            
                 
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