# A Fruit Market, from The Houghton Gallery

- By: Richard Earlom (after Frans Snyders (Flemish, 1579-1657); intermediary drawing by Joseph Farington (British, 1747-1821); published by…)
- Date: 1775
- Medium: Mezzotint with engraving in black ink on ivory wove paper
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: Image: 35.9 × 57.2 cm (14 3/16 × 22 9/16 in.); Plate: 41.5 × 57.6 cm (16 3/8 × 22 11/16 in.); Sheet: 50 × 67.2 cm (19 11/16 × 26 1/2 in.)
- Culture: England
- Credit line: Gift of Thomas B. Marston and Henry N. Tuttle
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/109150)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/2180121a-dbf7-9922-4685-e033fd51d3d0/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

John Boydell embarked on a monumental publication documenting the art collection of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister. Boydell contracted 45 engravers to create 162 prints, of which Richard Earlom’s are considered the most notable.

Motivated by nationalistic pride, Boydell sought to broadcast British patronage and connoisseurship of art to an international audience, as well as to encourage Parliament to purchase the collection for the nation from Walpole’s grandson. His efforts were not entirely successful; Catherine the Great, the empress of Russia, eventually acquired the entirety of Walpole’s holdings. Regarded as one of the finest groupings of Old Master European paintings, these works—including A Fruit Market (1618/21) by Frans Snyders, reproduced in this mezzotint by Earlom—can be seen at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0