John Hamilton Mortimer,  Richard II, from 'Twelve Characters from Shakespeare'

Lot description

John Hamilton Mortimer, British 1741-1779- Richard II, from 'Twelve Characters from Shakespeare'; etching, 40 x 32.4 cm.: together with three etchings from "Fifteen Etchings Dedicated to Sir Joshua Reynolds", depicting 'Banditti taking his post', 'Banditti on the look out', and 'A Captn. of Banditti sending out a party'; each 29 x 19 cm.: Joseph Haynes, British 1760-1829- 'Banditti at Market', after Mortimer; etching, 30.7 x 22 cm.: and Francesco Bartolozzi RA and William Woollett, Italian 1728-1815- and British 1735-1785- 'Dido and Aeneas', after Mortimer and Thomas Jones; engraving, 43.9 x 54 cm., six (6). Note: This etching of Richard II comes from a series of prints of Shakespearean characters, based on a drawings of the same subjects exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1775. The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes how, in the present print, Mortimer depicts 'Richard II as an arrogant potentate, gorgeously dressed in a turban and jewels, and unaware of the tiny skeletal figure of Death who prepares to dispatch him with a pin'.