Lot 355: JOHN HAMILTON MORTIMER A.R.A.

EASTBOURNE 1741 - 1779 LONDON CAIUS MARIUS SEATED AMONGST THE RUINS OF CARTHAGE Pen and grey and black ink 410 by 356 mm

London, Society of Artists, 1774, no. 173; Newcastle, 1974, no. 119

G. Benthall, John Hamilton Mortimer A.R.A., Drawings and Engraved Works with a Revised Account of his Life, 1950s, deposited in the Victoria and Albert Museum Library; B. Nicolson, John Hamilton Mortimer, A.R.A. (1740-1779), London 1968, p. 28, discussed under no. 34; J. Sunderland, ‘John Hamilton Mortimer, his Life and Work’, Walpole Society, Glasgow 1986, p. 73, 156, no. 84a

Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824), by 1782; Robert Blyth (1750-1784); his sale, London, Hutchins, 1 June 1784, lot 48; purchased from Hugh Scarfe, November 1958 Engraved: by Robert Blyth (1750-1784), 1782

Caius Marius is depicted as an isolated hero. Exhausted after the battle, he slumps amongst the ruins of Carthage, alone except for two concerned looking soldiers. At the 1774 Society of Artists exhibition, Mortimer exhibited this drawing alongside an oil painting of the same subject. That oil had been commissioned by Edward Sacheverell Pole (1718-1780) for his salon at Radburne Hall, Derbyshire.1 Although the compositions of both works differ entirely, it would seem likely that the present drawing was connected to this commission. By 1782 the present drawing had been acquired by the connoisseur Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824) and it was at this time engraved by Robert Blyth. 1. J. Sunderland, op.cit., p. 156, no. 84, fig. 103