Cassandra, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"
Etched and published by John Hamilton Mortimer British
Subject William Shakespeare British
Not on view
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 the Trojan princess Cassandra, whose wild eyes and gesture of warning underscore her prophesy of coming destruction:
"Cry Trojans cry, practice your eyes with tears
Troy must not be nor goodly IIlion stand."
(Troilus and Cressida, act 2, scene 4)
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