(MASSACHUSETTS) [Peter Pelham engraver] Mezzotint portrait o

Sale 2646 - Lot 207

Unsold

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

(MASSACHUSETTS.) [Peter Pelham?, engraver.] Mezzotint portrait of Edward Holyoke. Mezzotint engraving, 11 1/4 x 9 inches, on laid paper with no visible watermark, captioned "Edvardus Holyoke, Collegii Harvardini Cantabrigiae Nov-Anglorum Praeses Reverendus"; reinforced along all 4 edges with early paper tape on verso extending beyond the margins, dampstaining, 4 small holes in blank areas, 3/4-inch closed tear. [Boston], 1749

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Additional Details

Edward Holyoke (1689-1769) is shown early in his 32-year tenure as president of Harvard. Among the students who graduated on his watch were revolutionary leaders Samuel Adams, John Adams, and John Hancock. The engraver is not credited, but the work has often been attributed to Peter Pelham, the first mezzotint engraver in the British American colonies. Fielding, American Engravers upon Copper and Steel, 1195; J.C. Smith, British Mezzotinto Portraits, III:Pelham 24; Stauffer, American Engravers 2467. We trace no other examples at auction.