Lady Vaux 25 - 1793

Francesco Bartolozzi created this stipple engraving of Lady Vaux in the late 18th or early 19th century. Bartolozzi was an Italian printmaker who spent much of his career in London and was central to the British art world. He was a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts, one of the most important institutions in the history of British art. The image is a reproduction of an earlier portrait of a woman wearing the distinctive headdress of the late 15th century. In the 18th century, there was a growing fascination with British history and antiquities. Publishers put out many volumes of historical portraits, often based on paintings in aristocratic collections. As the market for reproductive prints grew, the Royal Academy tried to raise the status of engravers by according them the same recognition as painters. To understand this image better, we might look at the print market in 18th century Britain, the history of the Royal Academy, or the Vaux family. It reminds us that the meaning of art is always shaped by the social and institutional context.