Banditti; and Pilgrims

Details

JOHN HAMILTON MORTIMER, A.R.A. (EASTBOURNE 1741-1779 LONDON)
Banditti; and Pilgrims
pen and black ink on buff paper
each 11 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (29.2 x 29.2 cm.), circular
(2)

Provenance

both) The artist (†); 25 March 1808, lot 50 (6 gns to Stear).
2) Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 14 July 1987, lot 14.

Literature

1) is related to J. Sunderland, 'John Hamilton Mortimer, His Life and Works', The Walpole Society, LII, 1988, p. 155, no. 79.
2) is J. Sunderland, 'John Hamilton Mortimer, His Life and Works', The Walpole Society, LII, 1988, p. 155, no. 79*.

Exhibited

2) is London, Society of Artists, 1773, no. 208, or 1774, no. 175 or 176.

Engraved

etched by J. Haynes, 1780.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

In the early 1770s, Mortimer moved away from the history painting which had until then been his chief occupation towards more disturbing subject matter. Influenced by the 17th Century Neapolitan artist Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), he turned to scenes of witchcraft, monsters, and particularly banditti scenes, which would become his speciality. His tight, delicate draughtsmanship, with its richly hatched shading, was ideally suited to reproduction in etching, and was clearly influenced by Rosa and by Guercino (1591-1666).

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