THOMAS FRYE (c.1710-1762)

'TURKISH BASHAW'
 
Mezzotint on laid paper, trimmed within platemark to image
47 x 34 cm
 
 
 
 
 
Thomas Frye was born in Edenderry in County Offaly, Ireland, and it is thought that he may have received his first artistic instruction in Ireland and from the Irish portraitist James Latham (c.1696-1747). By 1734, Frye was in England, as a pastel portrait of the young Earl of Iveagh attests. By 1736, it seems his reputation had risen considerably, as he was commissioned to paint a portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales, on the occasion of his becoming perpetual master of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers. This he later engraved as a mezzotint in 1741, and a half-length autograph version is in the Royal Collections as well. 
 
 
Frye was not only a talented portraitist but something of an entrepreneur: he took out a patent (with his silent partner, the merchant Edward Heylyn) on kaolin imports from Virginia, and co-founded and managed the Bow porcelain factory. It was during his time at Bow that calcined bone was mixed in the china paste, an innovation that established the basis for the subsequent development of bone china. 
 
 
Frye is best remembered for his mezzotints, a medium in which he was unrivalled in Britain as a portraitist (Wright of Derby could rightly claim that title for his subject pictures). They show the intriguing influence of the Italian artists Giovanni Battista Piazetta and, to a lesser extent, Rosalba Carriera, both of whom would only have been known to Frye through her own printed output. Frye’s most famous works in the medium were the two series of ‘Fancy Heads’, from which the present two examples come. He advertised the print scheme widely in the London daily press, where the works were marketed as elegant decorations. The artist spared no expense on materials and ensured a near-uniform high quality to all of the prints, which were expensive and sold as a strictly limited edition.