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A Sacrifice Interrupted
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
One of the most talented draftsmen of his generation in England, John Hamilton Mortimer became known for a style of drawing in pen and ink that was bold, confident, and energetic. This sheet depicts a large crowd in a frieze-like arrangement gathered to witness a figure with an axe on the verge of decapitating a young male captive. Mortimer deliberately sought out obscure narratives and leaned toward the violent and macabre. In spite of the research of numerous art historians, the specific subject of the drawing has yet to be identified.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineA Sacrifice Interrupted, 1770s. John Hamilton Mortimer (British, 1740–1779). Pen and brown ink; sheet: 24.5 x 36 cm (9 5/8 x 14 3/16 in.); secondary support: 31.7 x 43.7 cm (12 1/2 x 17 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund and Delia E. Holden Fund, 1978.20
