Joseph Grozer (1755–1799) was an English

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, t ...

and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniqu ...

. He resided at No 8, Castle Street,

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

(or

Leicester Fields Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

) (1792-4) and published some of his prints himself.

Works

Grozer engraved in

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tona ...

, after

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depende ...

, George Romney, and others. Among his earliest known engravings are ''The Young Shepherdess'', published in 1784, and ''The Theory of Design'', 1785, both after Reynolds. Other mezzotint engravings were: * ''Master Braddyll'', ''Frederick, Viscount Duncannon'', ''Henrietta, Viscountess Duncannon'', ''Hon. Frances Harris (with a dog)'', ''Lord Loughborough'', and others, after Reynolds; * ''James, Earl of Cardigan'', ''Abraham Newland'', after Romney; * ''Morning, or the Benevolent Sportsman'', ''Evening, or the Sportsman's Return'', and others after

George Morland George Morland (26 June 176329 October 1804) was an English painter. His early work was influenced by Francis Wheatley, but after the 1790s he came into his own style. His best compositions focus on rustic scenes: farms and hunting; smugglers a ...

; * ''The Duke and Duchess of York'', after Henry Singleton; * ''Euhun Sang Lum Akao'', a Chinese man, after

Henri-Pierre Danloux Henri-Pierre Danloux (24 February 1753 – 3 January 1809) was a French painter and draftsman. He was born in Paris. Brought up by his architect uncle, Danloux was a pupil of Lépicié and later of Vien, whom he followed to Rome in 1775. In 17 ...

, and many others. Grozer worked occasionally in stipple, among these engravings being ''Sophia, Lady St. Asaph'', after Reynolds and ''Sergeant Daniel McLeod'', after

William Redmore Bigg William Redmore Bigg ( Felsted, Essex 6 January 1755 – 6 February 1828 London) was a British painter. Bigg was born in Felsted in Essex to William and Grace Bigg. He enrolled in the Royal Academy schools in 1778 where he studied under Edw ...

, and others. It was Grozer who gave the name ''

The Age of Innocence ''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine '' Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Ap ...

'' to his

stipple engraving Stipple engraving is a technique used to create tone in an intaglio print by distributing a pattern of dots of various sizes and densities across the image. The pattern is created on the printing plate either in engraving by gouging out the dots ...

of the work by Sir Joshua Reynolds, originally believed to have been called ''A Little Girl''. The picture became a favourite of the public, and according to Martin Postle "the commercial face of childhood", being reproduced countless times in prints and ephemera of different kinds. Postle, Martin. (2005) "''The Age of Innocence''" Child Portraiture in Georgian Art and Society", in ''Pictures of Innocence: Portraits of Children from Hogarth to Lawrence''. Bath:

Holburne Museum of Art The Holburne Museum (formerly known as the Holburne of Menstrie Museum and the Holburne Museum of Art) is located in Sydney Pleasure Gardens, Bath, Somerset, England. The city's first public art gallery, the Grade I listed building, is home to ...

, pp. 7-8.

Works

*The

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the F ...

has a mezzotint by Grozer titled
''Saint John: I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Chapter 1, Verse 23''Artprice
lists six works by Grozer sold at auction since 1997.

References and sources

;References ;Sources * ''La Gravure en Angleterre au XVIIIe Siecle'', by Andre Blum (1930) * ''Two Notes on Etchings and Mezzotints: II. Joseph Grozer'', by Campbell Dodgson (1928) * ''A Select Collection of English Mezzotints Formed By the Late Anson W. Burchard, Esq.'' (1928) *
British Museum
' ;Attribution 1755 births 1799 deaths English printmakers 18th-century English people {{UK-printmaker-stub