Richard II, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"

Richard II, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"

John Hamilton Mortimer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mortimer admired Salvator Rosa, absorbed aspects of his dramatic style, and sought British equivalents for his poetic subjects. This etching comes from a series devoted to leading Shakespearean characters, based on drawings exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1775. Merging the seventeenth-century genres of the character head and tête d'expression (expressive head), Mortimer's designs also incorporate aspects of history painting to convey the Bard's dramatic range. Attracted to tragic figures, the artist here portrays 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. The artist was inspired by the following passage: "For within the hollow crown, That rounds the mortal temples of a King, Keeps Death his court, & there the antick sits Scoffing his State & grinning at his pomp, Allowing him a breath, a little scene To monarchize, be feard & kill with looks Infusing him with self & vain conceit, As if this flesh which walls about our life Were brass impregnable & humoured thus Comes at last & with a little pin Bores thro' his castle walls & farewell King." (Richard II, act 3, scene 2)

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Richard II, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"Richard II, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"Richard II, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"Richard II, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"Richard II, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.