[COLLECTION OF 1000 PRINTS BY JOHN SARTAIN, SAMUEL SARTAIN, EMILY SARTAIN, AND OTHERS]

Book Description

[Philadelphia. ca. 1840-1880].. 1000 matted prints, mostly mezzotints and steel engravings. Prints range in size from 1 x 2 inches to 5 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches (with most dimensions between 3 and 7 inches), all in 12 x 9-inch mats. A file of approximately 930 catalogue cards, numbered and completed in manuscript, accompanies the prints. Occasional foxing and toning, but generally bright and clean, and overall near fine. An extraordinary single-owner collection of nearly 900 prints by John Sartain, with additional prints by his son, Samuel, his daughter, Emily, and several other artists. John Sartain (1808-97) was an English-born engraver who played a major role in developing and popularizing mezzotint engraving in the United States. Working in Philadelphia from 1830 to the end of the 19th century, Sartain produced approximately 1500 prints for books and for several different periodicals, including his own SARTAIN'S UNION MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE AND ART, which ran from 1849 to 1852. The majority of Sartain's work reproduces historical and allegorical scenes, landscapes, and portraits, many by leading painters of the day who commissioned Sartain themselves. The Free Library of Philadelphia cites one such painter, John Neagle, in its description of the library's important Sartain collection: "Engraving is not a copy, but a translation from color to black and white, and in order to make it successful, the engraver should enter into the spirit and feeling of the painter." The skilled visual translation of printmakers like Sartain was the best means by which most audiences would be exposed to the works of art in question, viewing them as they did primarily in illustrated books and magazines. The mezzotint process, with its great capacity for tonal range and detail, was an ideal method for this kind of artistic reproduction, particularly in portraiture, where mezzotints had come to represent a peak of printmaking achievement in the late 1700s. The 18th-century mezzotints, however, could not be printed in large quantities due to the extreme sensitivity of the mezzotint "burr" on soft copper plates, and it was not until the advent of steel plating in the 1820s that they would have a chance to reach mass audiences. John Sartain's apprenticeship and professional life coincided precisely with the second wave of mezzotint engraving, and the length and notoriety of his career attest to the importance of the medium in 19th- century illustration. Sartain's children, whose prints are also seen in this collection, were important engravers in their own right. Samuel Sartain (1830-1906), noted for his mezzotint portraits, worked from the 1840s into the 20th century and is represented here by forty-six catalogued and forty-seven uncatalogued prints (the latter category including duplicates). Emily Sartain (1841-1927), two of whose mezzotint portraits are included in the collection, was a prominent painter and printmaker in Philadelphia and was, with her friend Mary Cassatt, a leader in the women's art movement. From 1886 to 1919, Emily Sartain served as principal of the Philadelphia School of Art and Design, now the Moore College of Art and Design, the only women's art and design school in the U.S. According to his widow, the assembler of the present archive spent decades scouring New York City bookshops and flea markets for broken copies of books with Sartain engravings, eventually amassing nearly two- thirds of John Sartain's final output. The collector personally removed and matted each print, with his own makeshift materials, and created a detailed card catalogue for over 900 of the items. A unique and remarkable effort, producing an archive of tremendous value for researchers. STAUFFER, pp.233-36. The Free Library of Philadelphia, "The John Sartain Collection" (http://www.library.phila.gov/pix/sartain/sarta in.htm).

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