John Faber The YoungerEdit
John Faber the Younger (c. 1695–1756) was a prominent figure in early eighteenth-century British art, known for his portrait painting and especially for his mezzotint engravings. As the son of the influential engraver John Faber the Elder, he worked within a family workshop that helped shape the dissemination of likenesses across Great Britain. His career reflects the flourishing interplay between painting and printmaking in London during the Georgian era, and his prints contributed to the spread of contemporary image culture beyond the walls of fashionable studios.
Born into a family of printers and portraitists, Faber the Younger trained under his father and established himself in London’s bustling art market. He produced both original portraits and a substantial body of engravings after sittings and paintings by leading contemporary artists. Through his studio and collaborations with print publishers, his work reached a wide audience, from fashionable patrons to middle-class households seeking affordable representations of notable figures. In this sense, his career sits at the intersection of high-style portraiture and the democratizing impulses of print culture in 18th-century Britain.
His oeuvre is often cited for its technical refinement and its role in the development of English portrait printmaking. The mezzotint plates associated with his name are valued for their ability to render subtle tonal transitions and lifelike features, qualities that allowed the sitter’s presence to be communicated with a painterly immediacy. In this way, Faber the Younger helped popularize a visual language that balanced textual prestige with accessible imagery, aiding the construction of a shared visual memory of the period. His work thus occupies an important place in discussions of Mezzotint and [ [Engraving] ], and in the broader history of Portrait painting in Great Britain.
Life and career
Faber the Younger was active in London during a period when printmaking and portraiture were central to Britain’s visual culture. He was the son of John Faber the Elder, and his training in the family workshop positioned him to carry forward a tradition of producing engravings and portraits for a growing market. In addition to original portrait studies, he produced many engravings after portraits by other artists, contributing to a prolific output that circulated widely among collectors and patrons. He remained engaged in London’s artistic commerce until his death in the mid-1750s.
Art and technique
A key aspect of Faber the Younger’s legacy lies in his mastery of mezzotint, a printing method prized for its ability to deliver rich tonal gradations and a soft, painterly finish. Through mezzotint plates, he reproduced likenesses with a level of subtlety and accessibility that complemented the era’s portrait painting. His approach blended careful draughtsmanship with the technical advantages of printmaking, enabling the image of a sitter to reach a broader audience than would be possible through painting alone. The resulting prints reflect the aesthetics of the early Georgian period, bridging Baroque depth and the emerging lighter tastes of the 18th century.
Legacy and reception
Scholars view Faber the Younger as a key figure in the English print culture of his time. His work demonstrates how portraiture could be widely shared through print, shaping public perceptions of notable figures and contributing to the era’s cultural and social memory. As with many artists of the period, questions about attribution and authorship are part of the scholarly conversation; some prints associated with his studio may reflect collaborative workshop practices or revisions by publishers, rather than solitary authorship. Nevertheless, his name remains closely tied to the maturation of the English mezzotint tradition and to the broader history of Printmaking and Engraving in the Georgian era.