Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
English to English translations [Non-PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / history of art
English term or phrase:fl
Perhaps I should know, but I have no idea and I can't find it in my usual dictionaries: if I find the acronym "fl" in brackets after a name in a text focused on the history of art, as is the case of the engraver "J.T. Wedgwood (fl 1821)", what does the acronym stand for?
Thanks a lot!
f
Not an acronym but abbreviated Latin: means 'flourished' or 'was flourishing' and indicates that the person in question was active on that date (esp when exact dates of birth & death are not known - though this is unlikely to be the case with Wedgwood).
I was going to add a discussion here, but can't seem to get the line breaks into the text, without which it is very difficult to read. So I'll just add my remarks in an "answer."
I meant that "fl" is _not_ the engraver's initials: I was sure it had to do with his biography, and now I'm certain that "floruit" is the right explanation.
Sir Cloudsley Shovel, Rear Admiral of England. Engraved by J T ...
Engraved by J T Wedgwood from the original in the Hampton Court Collection ... Wedgwood, John Taylor [engraver]. Made:. Technique: engraving, stipple ...
www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/prints/viewPrint.cfm?ID=PAD2694
It's the engraver's initials -- the whole text reads:
An engraving by J.T.Wedgwood (fl 1821) of the Jacobite general Thomas Foster is inscribed ‘from a miniature by Rosalba. Painted at Venice’ (Witt Library, London).
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +4
