Shylock, from "Twelve Characters from Shakespeare"
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 Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The subject's revengeful expression, underscored by the scales and the blade he holds, point to the moment in act 4 where he insists that the court enforce the terms of his "bond." The latter contract governs a loan made to the antisemitic merchant Antonio, hated by Shylock, and from whom he is determined to cut away of pound of flesh as a penalty for non-payment.
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