John Faber the Younger (1684 – 2 May 1756)Johan Faber II
at the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

was a Dutch portrait engraver active in London.

Life

Faber was born in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

, the son of the artist John Faber the Elder, and learned

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 tonal ...

and drawing from his father after the family's move to London. He then enrolled at the

St Martin's Lane Academy The St Martin's Lane Academy, a precursor of the Royal Academy, was organised in 1735 by William Hogarth, from the circle of artists and designers who gathered at Slaughter's Coffee House at the upper end of St Martin's Lane, London. The artisti ...

. In later life Faber resided at the Golden Head in Bloomsbury Square, London, where he died of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

on 2 May 1756. From the inscription on a masonic portrait of

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fa ...

, it appears that Faber was a Freemason himself. According to Horace Walpole, his widow, of whom there is an engraving by Faber from a portrait by Thomas Hudson, remarried a lawyer of the name of Smith.

Works

Faber concentrated on mezzotints and was prolific. He was commissioned by Sir Godfrey Kneller and Peter Lely to reproduce their works (the 48-image

Kit-Kat Club The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit Kat Club) was an early 18th-century English club in London with strong political and literary associations. Members of the club were committed Whigs. They met at the Trumpet tavern in London and at Water Oakley ...

for the former). Among his early works were portraits of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after hi ...

(1717), Charles XII of Sweden (1718), Sir George Byng (1718),

Eustace Budgell Eustace Budgell (19 August 1686 – 4 May 1737) was an English writer and politician. Life and Death Born in St Thomas near Exeter, he was the son of Gilbert Budgell, D.D. by his first wife Mary, only daughter of Bishop William Gulston of Bri ...

(1720), and others. Faber presents the transitional period from Kneller to that of Joshua Reynolds and

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

. More than 400 of his portraits survive. His works include a whole-length of

Jane Collier Jane Collier (1714 – March 1755) was an English novelist best known for her book '' An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting'' (1753). She also collaborated with Sarah Fielding on her only other surviving work '' The Cry'' (1754). P ...

, and one of Father Couplet (from a picture by Kneller at Windsor); also the portraits of Charles II in his robes of state (after Lely),

Ignatius Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...

(after

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

), Don Jose Carreras (after Kneller), and the six aldermen known as "Benn's Club" (after Hudson). He published sets of engravings, among the best known being ''The Beauties of Hampton Court'', ''The Five Philosophers of England'', and ''The Members of the Kit-Cat Club'': the

Kit-Cat Club The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit Kat Club) was an early 18th-century English club in London with strong political and literary associations. Members of the club were committed Whigs. They met at the Trumpet tavern in London and at Water Oakley ...

at one time held its meetings in Fountain Court,

The Strand, London Strand (or the Strand) is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster, Central London. It runs just over from Trafalgar Square eastwards to Temple Bar, where the road becomes Fleet Street in the City of London, and is part of the A4, ...

, where Faber also lived. Faber was engaged on the engravings from 1731 to 1735, and in the latter year they were published by him and

Jacob Tonson Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the Elder (1655–1736), was an eighteenth-century English bookseller and publisher. Tonson published editions of John Dryden and John Milton, and is best known for having obtained a copyright ...

. Faber occasionally produced other types of subject, such as ''The Taking of Namur'' (after

Jan Wyck Jan Wyck (also Jan Wiyck or Jan Wick) (29 October 1645 – 17 May 1702) was a Dutch baroque painter, best known for his works on military subjects. There are still over 150 of his works known to be in existence. In an era when French artists d ...

), ''St Peter'' (after Anthony van Dyck), ''Salvator Mundi'' (after Robert Browne), and domestic subjects after

Philip Mercier Philippe Mercier (also spelled Philip Mercier; 1689 – 18 July 1760) was an artist of French Huguenot descent from the German realm of Brandenburg-Prussia (later Kingdom of Prussia), usually defined to French school. Active in England for mos ...

References

External links

John Faber Junior
at the National Portrait Gallery ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Faber, John the Younger 1684 births 1756 deaths Dutch engravers Portrait engravers Artists from The Hague