Fishermen

Description

One of many works produced late in John Mortimer’s career as designs for prints executed by his apprentice, Robert Blyth, this drawing reflects Mortimer’s interest in picturesque scenes of bandits, pirates, and smugglers. Blyth’s etching faithfully includes the vague or unfinished elements in the periphery of the this drawing, including the house at the right margin and the seemingly allegorical female figure on the left. As a natural outcome of translating a drawn invention onto a printing matrix, the etching reverses the direction of this drawing.

Fishermen

John Hamilton Mortimer

1774

Accession Number

213934

Medium

Pen and black ink on off-white laid paper

Dimensions

36.8 × 41.9 cm (14 1/2 × 16 1/2 in.)

Classification

pen and ink drawings

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection