Arthur Pond after Parmigianino, Holy Family with St John – 1734 etching print

Arthur Pond after Parmigianino Holy Family with St John

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An original 1734 etching print, Arthur Pond after Parmigianino, Holy Family with St John.

A fine etching in brown ink produced by the English painter and engraver Arthur Pond (c.1705–1758) after a 16th-century drawing by Francesco Mazzola, also known as Parmigianino (1503–1540). Pond visited Italy in 1725–7 with the painter George Knapton, the painter and poet John Dyer and the antiquary Daniel Wray. This print is from Pond's 1734 series 'Prints in Imitation of Drawings', which he produced in collaboration with George's brother, Charles Knapton, also an artist.

Parmigianino's graphic work was highly sought after and praised in England in the late 18th century. Sir Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West were avid collectors of Parmigianino's drawings and original prints.

An associated inscription (see photo) gives the provenance of this drawing: Given to Mary Twopenny by her cousin David at Little Casterton in 1832. David Twopenny, commoner at Oriel College, Oxford and lifelong Vicar of Stockbury in Kent, was a collector of art (a sale of his collection at Christie’s included an extensive collection of fine engravings after Turner).

Trimmed to the image and laid down on backing paper with wash line border.

This print is one of a small collection of 18th-century works that we have for sale after Parmigianino (1503–1540). Francesco Mazzola, more commonly known as Parmigianino ('the little one from Parma'), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma. He was one of the first Italian painters to experiment with printmaking himself. His work is considered to be characterised by a 'refined sensuality' and he favoured elongated forms and three-quarter or full-length figure portraits.