Left, herders with goats and cattle by a stream; right, a dog being taught to dance to the sound of a pipe; beyond, the Roman Campagna. Engraving and etching by S. Middiman and J. Pye, 1810, after Claude Lorraine.

1810

1 print : engraving, with etching, in oval en chine ; sheet 31.5 x 42.6 cm, platemark 35 x 46 cm

Claude pinx.t ; Engrav'd by S. Middiman & John Pye '10

Wellcome Collection 3049708i

Here attributed to John Pye the younger (1782-1874), as he seems to be named here as the junior partner. It could be attributed to John Pye the elder (1745-after 1789), of whom the Oxford dictionary of national biography says "He enrolled as a student at the Royal Academy Schools in March 1777, giving his age as thirty-one. Pye specialized in landscape etchings, and for Boydell in the mid-1770s he produced plates after Cuyp, Claude, and Rembrandt and prints after Vernet and Kauffmann. Pye is said to have used the talents of Samuel Middiman (17501831) on plates published under his name only. ... Middiman produced three large plates and one smaller illustration for the Shakspeare Gallery. As a specialist landscape etcher his skills were much in demand, and he is said to have worked on many plates issued under the sole name of other engravers, for instance John Pye."