id:			162326
accession number:	2002.58
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2002.58
updated:		2023-03-15 15:46:45.023000

Richard II, 1775. John Hamilton Mortimer (British, 1740–1779). Etching in brown ink; sheet: 57.3 x 40.8 cm (22 9/16 x 16 1/16 in.); image: 34.1 x 28 cm (13 7/16 x 11 in.); platemark: 39.9 x 32.4 cm (15 11/16 x 12 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of various donors to the department of Prints and Drawings 2002.58

title:				Richard II
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1775
creation date earliest:		1775
creation date latest:		1775
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of various donors to the department of Prints and Drawings
copyright:			

---

culture:	England, 18th century
technique:	etching in brown ink
department:	Prints
collection:	PR - Etching
type:		Print
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

* John Hamilton Mortimer (British, 1740–1779)  - artist

---

measurements: Sheet: 57.3 x 40.8 cm (22 9/16 x 16 1/16 in.); Image: 34.1 x 28 cm (13 7/16 x 11 in.); Platemark: 39.9 x 32.4 cm (15 11/16 x 12 3/4 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	proof impression before borderline was added for the first edition

support materials:

	description:	medium-weight laid paper with watermark in the middle of the sheet
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

	inscription:	inscribed lower right in pen and brown ink: N:161: J:M; numbered upper right corner in brown ink: 6
	translation:	
	remark:		

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

	Charles Ryskamp
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
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 WORKS

---

CITATIONS

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.58/2002.58_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.58/2002.58_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2002.58/2002.58_full.tif