Artwork
Anne Ward Morland (Delia in Town)
Anne Ward Morland (Delia in Town) is an ink print by the Romanticist artist John Raphael Smith. It dates from 1788 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
John Raphael Smith’s color stipple engraving, titled *Anne Ward Morland (Delia in Town)* and dated around 1788, depicts a young woman seated in an urban carriage scene. The image is a proof before the addition of any inscription, executed on a chine collé support with ink applied à la poupée, a method that allowed subtle tonal variation.
Subject & Meaning
The sitter, identified as Anne Ward Morland, is shown wearing a large feathered hat and a light dress with a contrasting dark‑blue sleeve. Her hands rest on a small table within the carriage, while a softened background suggests trees and a park, situating her in a genteel, leisurely setting typical of late‑eighteenth‑century portraiture.
Technique & Style
Smith employed the stipple engraving technique, using a series of dots to render delicate shading. The ink was applied à la poupée, a process in which multiple colors are placed on a single plate and transferred simultaneously, producing a nuanced, soft‑toned effect that was fashionable for portrait prints of the period.
History & Provenance
John Raphael Smith, a British painter and mezzotint engraver, was the son of landscape artist Thomas Smith and the father of John Rubens Smith, who later emigrated to the United States. This particular proof, created before any inscription was added, reflects Smith’s practice of producing highly finished reproductive prints for the market.
Context
The work belongs to a broader trend in the 1780s toward refined, color‑enhanced engravings that could rival painted portraits in detail and elegance. Such prints were often used to disseminate fashionable images of society figures, catering to a growing middle‑class appetite for accessible portraiture.
Artist & collection
Artist
John Raphael Smith (25 May 1751 – 2 March 1812) was a British painter and mezzotinter. He was the son of the landscape painter Thomas Smith and the father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who emigrated to the United States.
