Item 24: A Mezzotint by James Watson, of John Wilkes, after Robert Edge Pine, [ca. 1768-1790]
Item — Box: 6, Folder: 24
Dates
- [ca. 1768-1790]
Creator
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
From the Collection: 17 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Mezzotint
Condition Note:
Good.
Measurements:
15in x 11in
Title:
John Wilkes Esq.
Description:
The following item dated 1764, depicts an engraving by Robert Edge Pine
In the portrait, Wilkes is depicted in a whole-length figure, seated directed to left and looking away to right. He is wearing a fur-trimmed robe and a simple chain, gesturing outwards with right hand. His left hand holding scroll labelled 'Magna Charta', leaning to right with left elbow on a table littered with papers including a copy of his letter 'To the Gentlemen Clergy & Freeholders of the County of Middlesex' and an inkstand, with plaque showing Hercules defeating the hydra on the wall.
The item is a copy of previous engravings featuring the scene. On the British Museum’s website, a curator states: “This appears to be a copy in the same direction of a mezzotint by John Dixon dated 1768. There is reduced version in the same direction published by Carington Bowles in 1768 and a large mezzotint copy in reverse by Franz Heissig, dated 1770 (for impressions see 2010,7081.1489 and 1902,1011.761, and 7640).”
The item bears a striking resemblance to Items 2 and 21.
The date range for this item has been estimated as a range from 1768-1790, as it must be when he held the office as Middlesex’s Parliament representative, but after holding seat as Lord Mayor of London in Dixon’s 1768/70 engraving.
Transcription:
Published according to Act directs 1768.”
John Wilkes, Esq[ui]r[e]. Member of Parliament for the county of MIDDLESEX.
Friend to Liberty a Lover of his King, opposer of Ministerial Tyranny & Defender of his County
Printed for Carington Bowles, Map & PrintSeller at No 63 in St Pauls Church Yard, London
Printed for Carington Bowles, Map & PrintSeller at No 63 in St Pauls Church Yard, London
Creator
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu