Skip to Content
Closed today, next open Thursday. Closed today, next open Thursday.

  • Mon 11–5
  • Tue–Wed Closed
  • Thu 11–8
  • Fri–Sun 11–5
  • The first hour of every day, 10–11 a.m., is reserved for member-only viewing.

An Incantation

A work made of mezzotint with touches of engraving in black on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of mezzotint with touches of engraving in black on ivory laid paper.

Date:

1772

Artist:

John Dixon (English, born Ireland, 1720/30-1804)
after John Hamilton Mortimer (English, 1740-1779)

About this artwork

The Romantic painter John Hamilton Mortimer etched a series of Shakespearean heads in the mode of Thomas Frye’s Life-Sized Heads. However, this encounter between a powerful, aged sorceress and a terrified maiden has no literary source. Mortimer invented it himself, possibly responding to a critic’s assertion that Shakespeare was the only English genius who could successfully depict the preternatural realm. Dixon published another theatrical mezzotint that same year, Mr. Garrick in Richard III.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

John Dixon

Title

An Incantation

Place

England (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1772

Medium

Mezzotint with touches of engraving in black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image/plate: 61 × 48.5 cm (24 1/16 × 19 1/8 in.); Sheet: 66.9 × 51.5 cm (26 3/8 × 20 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

The Wallace L. DeWolf and Joseph Brooks Fair Collections

Reference Number

1920.20

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/133282/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.
Learn more

Image actions

Share

Suggested Terms