(HAMILTON ALEXANDER) Rollinson William engraver; after Rober

Sale 2404 - Lot 153

Price Realized: $ 3,500

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500

(HAMILTON, ALEXANDER.) Rollinson, William, engraver; after Robertson. Alexander Hamilton, Major General . . . Secretary of the Treasury. Stipple engraving, 23 1/4 x 17 1/2 inches; moderate foxing, 3 pinholes or paper flaws; uncut. New York: Columbia Academy of Painting, 1804

Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

In the wake of Alexander Hamilton's dueling death at the hand of Aaron Burr, a mourning nation had an immediate desire for portraits of this influential founding father. Self-taught New York engraver William Rollinson was ahead of the game, as he had been working on a portrait of Hamilton for more than a year using the painstaking stipple technique. On 28 August 1804, just seven weeks after Hamilton's death, Rollinson had copyrighted his work. Two days later, he advertised in the New York Post that he offered "no catch penny, got up on the spur of the occasion, to take advantage of the agitation of the public mind." The result has been called "the finest American stipple engraving." Library Company of Philadelphia, Made in America 22; Shadwell 93; Stauffer 2709 (first state). Provenance: Butler Engravings and Etchings; Anderson's Thomas J. McKee sale VIII, 20 February 1905, lot 7253 (label and catalogue description clipped from frame backing).