COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
CMA_.2002.58
AMICA Library Year:
2003
Object Type:
Prints
Creator Name:
Mortimer, John Hamilton
Creator Nationality:
British
Creator Role:
artist
Creator Dates/Places:
1740 - 1779
Gender:
M
Creator Birth Place:
Eastbourne
Creator Death Place:
London
Creator Name-CRT:
John Hamilton Mortimer
Title:
Richard II
Title Type:
Primary
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
1775
Creation Start Date:
1775
Creation End Date:
1775
Materials and Techniques:
etching in brown ink
Classification Term:
Print
Style or Period:
England, 18th century
Dimensions:
Sheet: 57.3cm x 40.8cm, Image: 34.1cm x 28cm, Platemark: 39.9cm x 32.4cm
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number:
2002.58
Credit Line:
Gift of various donors to the department of Prints (by exchange)
Inscriptions:
inscribed lower right in pen and brown ink: N:161: J:M; numbered upper right corner in brown ink: 6
Provenance:
Charles Ryskamp
Context:
John Hamilton Mortimer supported the prevailing academic doctrine which located history painting at the top of the hierarchy of subject matter. Unlike many of his contemporaries, however, he turned to the great subjects of English literature for themes. From 1775 to 1776, Mortimer produced etchings of twelve Shakespearean characters, including King Lear, Ophelia, and Caliban. In this dramatic composition, the skeletal figure of death looms over the tense King Richard II. This rare signed proof is a marvelous example of Mortimer's Romantic sensibility.By the time he was twenty-three years old, Mortimer had won numerous prizes for his drawings and paintings and was considered one of the rising stars of English art. In 1774, he became president of the Society of Artists of Great Britain, to whose annual exhibitions he was a regular contributor. The artist's promising career was cut short by his untimely death at the age of thirty-nine.
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.2002.58.tif
