enormous sums. He executed some four hundred plates, and among the best known we may mention the following, and the prices they have brought at auction will show the high esteem in which he is held:—The Ladies Waldegrave, first state, £236 5s.; Lady Elizabeth Compton, £288 15s.; Lady Betty Delmé and Children, first state, £100; Lady Louisa Manners, first state, £141 15s.; Lady Townshend, £105.
John Raphael Smith (1730-1812) engraved a variety of subjects after Morland and a great many portraits after Reynolds. His prices are not so high as those realised by Valentine Green, but they are sufficiently high to be impossible to the tyro. Mrs. Carnac, 1st state brings, £950.[1] To show the minute scientific exactitude which governs the collecting of "states" and the awful gulf between one state and another in market value, it is interesting to note that this same print, in proof impression, is only worth £56; and again when lettered, although still very fine, £32 11s.
James Watson, born in Ireland in 1740, was another exquisite and finished engraver in mezzotint. His prices fall short of those we have quoted, but are still prohibitive. His states are extremely complicated, as he left many plates unfinished and commenced the subject on a new sheet of copper. He died in London in 1790. His daughter, Caroline Watson (1760-1814), carried on her father's traditions in mezzotint, and in addition engraved in stipple. Thomas Watson (1743-1781), no relation to the above, did some fine work after Reynolds,
- ↑ A specimen at the Edgcumbe sale in 1901 fetched 1,160 guineas.
