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Michael Alphonsus Shen Fu-Tsung

Print
18 January 1787 (published)
Artist/Maker
Torre & Co. (publisher)
Faber, John (The Younger) (engraver)
Kneller, Godfrey (Sir, Bt) (artist)
Place of origin
London (published)

Print depicting Shen Fuzong (Michael Alphonsus). Full-length, standing, wearing oriental dress, facing slightly right and holding a crucifix in his left hand. On the right is a table covered with a cloth and supporting a pile of books.

Object details

Categories
Portraits
Prints
Object type
Print
Titles
  • Michael Alphonsus Shen Fu-Tsung (generic title)
  • The Chinese Convert (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Mezzotint
Mezzotint
Brief description
Print, fportrait of Shen Fuzong (d.1691), mezzotint by John Faber the Younger after Sir Godfrey Kneller, published 1787.
Physical description
Print depicting Shen Fuzong (Michael Alphonsus). Full-length, standing, wearing oriental dress, facing slightly right and holding a crucifix in his left hand. On the right is a table covered with a cloth and supporting a pile of books.
Dimensions
  • Height: 50.2cm
  • Width: 35.2cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1959. London: HMSO, 1964.
Style
Baroque
Copy number
2nd state
Marks and inscriptions
'Hanc Francisci Couplet, Societ. Jesu. Ad Fidem Christianam inter Sinenses propagandum missi, imaginem; Ao. 687 a Gothofredo Kneller Equite pictam; et ex ipso Archetypo in Arce Vindesoriana deposito expressam; Richardo Mead M.D. S.R.S. publicum suae erga Virum Clarissimum observantiae testimonium. D.D.D. Johannes Faber Ao. 1736. Pubd. as the Act directs Jany.18 1787 by Torre & Co. No.132 Pall Mall.' (Lettered)
Credit line
Given by Mrs E. B. Westwood
Object history
The late identification of Couplet with this portrait was probably occasioned by the erroneous lettering on this print. The oil painting by Sir. G. Kneller is in the Royal Collection and is No.348 in The Tudor, Stuart and Early Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen by Oliver Millar, M.V.O., London, 1963, where it is reproduced as Pl.151.
Historical context
The subject of this portrait was converted to Christianity by Father Philip Couplet, Procurator of the China Jesuits in Rome, and brought by him to Europe.
Production
This print is a later impression of the original 1736 engraving.
Subjects depicted
Man
Crucifix
Books
Shen Fuzong (Michael Alphonsus)
Bibliographic references
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1959 . London: HMSO, 1964.
  • Smith, John Chaloner. British Mezzotinto Portraits. London: Henry Sotheran & Co., 1883. Vol. 1, p.333.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.358-1959

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O568773/michael-alphonsus-shen-fu-tsung-print-faber-john-the/
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