Fire

Date1760

After work by Philippe Mercier 1689 - 1760

Engraver Richard Houston (1721-1775)

Publisher Robert Sayer (1725-1794)

OriginEngland, London

MediumHand-colored mezzotint

DimensionsOther (Sight): 13 5/8 × 9 3/4in. (34.6 × 24.8cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1952-376,1

DescriptionLower margin reads: "Ph: Mercier pinx.t/ Publish'd according to Act of Parliament October 1st. 1760/ Rich.d Housten fecit./ Here blooming Beauty beams celestial Fire - / And warms the youthful heart with fierce desire. / Happy the Fair whose ev'ry look can charm, / And like the Sun with cheerful Influence warm. / London Printed for Rob.t Sayer opposite Fetter Lane, Fleet Street."Label TextThis print is part of a set representing the elements: Fire, Water, Air, Earth. This print, "Fire”, features a fashionably dressed young woman at a fireplace, blowing the fire with a pair of bellows. Sets of prints depicting young women as allegorical representations of the seasons, months of the year, times of day, and elements were popular in the eighteenth-century. The rest of the set: Air 1952-376,2; Water 1952-376,3; and Earth 1952-376,4.

Verse in lower margin reads:
Here blooming Beauty beams celestial Fire -
And warms the youthful heart with fierce desire.
Happy the Fair whose ev'ry look can charm,
And like the Sun with cheerful Influence warm.ProvenanceBefore 1952, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1952-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).