The etchings and engravings featured in this exhibition are from the collection of portrait painter Oliver Frazer (1808-1864). Born in Fayette County, Frazer was the most highly trained and widely traveled of Kentucky’s early artists. In 1834 Frazer embarked on a four-year sojourn to Europe. He trained with Antoine-Jean Gros and Thomas Couture in Paris, before visiting Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. By 1835 he arrived in England, where Sully had advised him was the best place to study portraiture.

In Europe Frazer visited museums and copied the works of Anthony van Dyck and Titian. Etchings and engravings after paintings, such as those exhibited here, also figured into his edification. Such prints were affordable, widely available, and gave Frazer ready access to European masterpieces even after his return to Kentucky.