ARTIST: Littleford
MEDIUM: Mezzotint engraving,
DATE: 1775.
EDITION SIZE: Image size 12 1/2 x 9 7/8" (31.8 x 25.1 cm)
DESCRIPTION: Painted by Littileford. John Hancock became involved in the Revolution as a result of his disagreements with English custom officials regarding his mercantile business in Boston. At the time of the Stamp Act and the Boston Massacre, he was an outspoken leader amongst militant patriots and held elected offices in both the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and the Continental Congress. His militant beliefs, as well as his position as president of the Continental Congress, made him newsworthy in both England and the colonies. Numerous portraits were published on both sides the ocean depicting this important Revolutionary figure. In his anxiety to distribute the first print depicting Hancock, the London printseller Charles Shepherd issued a porthole portrait of the great patriot after a painting by Littleford. The image bears a passable resemblance to Copley’s portrait of Hancock, but it is unlikely that
ADDITIONAL INFO:
CONDITION: Overall is good condition. Lower publication line trimmed off
REFERENCE: Fowble, Two Centuries of Prints in America 1680-1880, p. 115, no. 63; Cresswell, The American Revolution in Drawings and Prints p. 33, no. 102; Library of Congress, Z62-7340 Chaloner Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits 1715..
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