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Cupid, in the Character of a Link Boy

John Dean British
After Sir Joshua Reynolds British
1777
Not on view
Dean's print reproduces a painting by Reynolds devoted to a familiar London sight—linkboys who were paid to light pedestrians through dark streets before public lighting became commonplace. One of Reynolds's most loyal patrons, John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset (1745–1799), bought the painting from the artist in 1774, it then remained in the family through the late nineteenth century and is now in the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. This impression once belonged to to the British painter Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830) as part of a large collection of mezzotints after Reynolds.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cupid, in the Character of a Link Boy
  • Artist: John Dean (British, 1754–1798 London)
  • Artist: After Sir Joshua Reynolds (British, Plympton 1723–1792 London)
  • Date: 1777
  • Medium: Mezzotint; scratched letter proof
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 19 9/16 × 12 15/16 in. (49.7 × 32.8 cm)
    Plate: 15 7/16 × 10 7/8 in. (39.2 × 27.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1941
  • Object Number: 41.105.29
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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