Pair Of Early 19th-Century English Antique Reverse Prints on Glass

A pair of early 19th-Century English antique reverse prints on glass.

One depicts a gentleman in a top hat in a countryside setting with his shot gun, firing at wild birds with hunting dogs. The other depicts two gentlemen, again in a countryside setting, freshwater fishing.

Presented behind glass and set within their original maple-veneered frames with gilt inner-slip.

History of Reverse-Glass Prints:

Reverse-Glass Prints (or glass prints, mezzotints under glass) are distinct from glass paintings, or transparencies, as they do not involve painting onto the actual glass, but onto the reverse of a print adhered to the glass, (Tremain 1994 p143). They are thought to have originated as a novel evolution to add colour to the mezzotint, and the earliest productions of reverse glass prints began very shortly after the invention and popularisation of the mezzotint in the middle of the 17th century, (Stanley 2002 p49 / Tremain p143). Reverse-glass prints, similar to some forms of glass paintings, were usually framed in order to resemble an oil painting (Stanley p52), and the earlier productions, particularly in the late 17th and early 18th century, were often high quality colour imitations of a famous painting of the day engraved, adhered and painted-in by a skilled mezzotint artist, (Stanley p50 /H.G Clarke 1928 p2). By the mid 18th century glass print making classes for amateurs began to be publicised in newspapers and print-sellers were advertising the sale of materials for amateurs to create glass prints of their own, (Stanley p51). Towards the end of the 18th century and in the early 19th century print sellers were themselves acquiring mezzotints on paper from artists specifically to produce reverse-glass prints with themes popular to the general public, (Tremain p145 / Stanley p51). These were generally of a simpler and lower standard than those seen originally, (H.G. Clarke p1).

Reverse-glass prints are novel examples of an obsolete technology constructed using distinct production methods particular to the materials available at a specific era of time. The ingenius method used to transfer a printed image onto a sheet of glass to allow colour to be applied to the verso is a process of many parts. Firstly the monochrome printed image on paper is fully wetted out, sometimes for up to two days, (Smith, 1705 p84), before being placed between two sheets of paper to remove excess water. The sheet of glass is carefully and evenly coated with a warm turpentine oil or varnish, and the damp paper print is carefully laid recto (print side) down and gently pressed and rubbed from one side to the other to ensure all air is expelled. The recto of the print is now evenly adhered to the glass and allowed to dry. When fully secure, the verso (reverse) of the paper is gently rubbed and rolled with the fingers, peeling away the majority of the fibres and leaving only the extremely thin and transparent recto layer with the inked print. The verso is then varnished with a natural resin varnish such as mastic ‘4 or 5 times, or so often till you may see clearly thro’ it’, (Clarke 1928). Mastic, a natural triterpenoid resin, has a long history of use in picture varnishes, (Rivers & Umney 2003 p594) due to its ability to brilliantly saturate painted colours, and was particularly suited for use in reverse glass prints for this reason as it enhanced the painterly qualities of the print. Once dried, the print could be coloured on the reverse with oil or watercolour paints, (Tremain p146, Stanley p51, Clarke p2), after which it would be framed, often in lavish carved or gilded wood to further enhance the resemblance to an oil painting, (Stanley p51).