Lot 18: The Death Mask of David Garrick

Believed to be by Robert Edge Pine (1730-1788)
The Death Mask of David Garrick
mezzotint on laid paper, early scratch letter proof, extremely rare, published by R.E.Pine, Bath, 1779
unframed
P. 9 7/16 x 6 1/8in. (23.9 x 15.5cm.)
with two further mezzotints of David Garrick, the first a portrait by James McArdell (1729-1765), after Arthur Pond; and the second 'Garrick, in the Character of Abel Drugger' 1825, by Samuel William Reynolds (1773-1835), after Johann Zoffany, R.A.
both unframed (3)

Very little is known about this print. Death mask prints are extremely rare and this is the only one known to have been engraved in mezzotint. At the time of the publication of this print, the painter Robert Edge Pine was living in Bath. It is possible that the engraving was executed by Pine himself, which would explain the rather crude style; if this was so, it is the only known mezzotint by Pine