Edgar (from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare")

John Hamilton Mortimer|William Shakespeare

May 20, 1775 · Etching · Drawings and Prints

Mortimer admired Salvator Rosa, absorbed aspects of his dramatic style, and sought British equivalents for his subjects. This etching comes from a series that Mortimer 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 elements of history painting to convey the Bard's inventive range. Attracted mostly to tragic figures, the artist here portrays Edgar, the eldest son of the Earl of Gloucester, disguised as the demon-possessed Poor Tom. Clad in rags, with weeds woven into his hair, the figure joins the exiled King Lear in a storm, and speaks the following lines: "Away! The foul fiend follows me. Through the sharp Hawthorn blows the cold wind. Humph--go to thy bed and warm thee." (Lear, act 3, scene 3)

Artist

John Hamilton Mortimer|William Shakespeare

Date

May 20, 1775

Medium

Etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1968