JOHN HAMILTON MORTIMER, A.R.A. (1740 - 1779)

 
 
A RIVER GOD WITH A CHILD
 
 
Pen & ink on laid paper
13 x 12 cm
 
 
PROVENANCE
[Possibly] Samuel Ireland  (1744 - 1800), London; [1]
His sale, London, 7 - 15 May 1801, lot 350 ('The River God');
Private collection, France (by 2026), by whom sold anonymously at auction,
De Baecque & Associes, Lyon, 28 September 2026, lot 446 (École Neoclassique vers 1800, Scène animée)
 
 
LITERATURE
Engraved by Thomas Rowlandson for Imitations of Modern Drawings (Grego, vol. I. p.151, no. 15; Vol. II, p. 390, no 15 (?));
The print is discussed (though erroneously attributed to Samuel Ireland) in John Sunderland's 'John Hamilton Mortimer, His Life and Works', The Walpole Society, vol. 52 (1986), p. 208, cat. no. 207, fig. 348
 
 
 
 
 
 
Born in Eastbourne, on the southeast coast of England, Mortimer was sent by his father when he was seventeen to work in the studio of Thomas Hudson (1701-1779), one of the foremost British portrait artists of the time. It was in Hudson's studio that Mortimer met the young Joseph Wright, better-known today as Wright of Derby (1734-1797), who would remain a lifelong friend and influence. During this period, Mortimer also studied with Giovanni Battista Cipriani (1727-1785) at the Duke of Richmond's Sculpture Gallery, learning to draw from the antique. His final teacher in London was Robert Edge Pine (1730-1788), another portrait painter, with whom he worked in 1759.
 
 
The young artist’s gift for draughtsmanship was evident from the beginning of his student years: he won prizes from 1758 to 1762 at the St Martin's Lane Academy and, in 1763, won the second prize at the prestigious Society of Arts. The following year brought with it the first prize at the Society, awarded for his ‘St Paul preaching to the Britons’ (now in the Town Hall, High Wycombe). Mortimer had begun to exhibit at the Society's annual shows in 1762, and continued to do so until 1777. He was closely involved with the Society more broadly, becoming Vice-President in 1770 and being elected President in 1774. 
 
 
Mortimer was a close associate and friend of several of the artists in the Society, including James Durno, Francis Wheatley and Thomas Jones, and worked together with them on several important commissions (including Brocket Hall, Lord Melbourne's house) and with Wright on paintings for Radburne Hall. Mortimer exhibited for the first time at the recently-established Royal Academy in 1778, swiftly becoming an associate in November of that year, though he would sadly die before he was able to become a full Academician.
 
Nancy Pressly described Mortimer as '...one of the most imaginative history painters of his day…’ and his prolific output in such a short lifetime left an indelible mark on British history painting of the late 18th century.  
 
 
 
Perhaps the single greatest influence on Mortimer's own style was the work of the great Italian baroque artist Salvator Rosa, particularly his printed oeuvre and the prints after his drawings. Indeed, Mortimer was described by a contemporary in an anonymous 1772 pamphlet as having made 'Salvator Rosa his model, and [he] has so well succeeded in his Manner, that he may with propriety claim the title of the English Salvator.' [2]
 
 
River Gods feature prominently in Rosa's output, particularly in the so-called Triton Group of etchings from c.1660-61. Mortimer treated this subject on at least two further occasions, with those drawings reproduced as etchings by Samuel Ireland (see figs. II & III). 
 
Whether our drawing belonged to Ireland or not cannot be established therefore due to the existence of the other two 'River God' drawings, and Rowlandson's print gives no clue as to the owner of the source. Ireland was a near-neighbour of Mortimer and his wife (who remained at that address after her husband's death for some years), and owned a considerable number of works by Mortimer which were sold at the 1801 sale, so there is nevertheless a distinct possibility of this provenance.