Edgar

The central figure is identified as Edgar, a character drawn from English drama, likely referencing the tragic hero of Shakespeare’s *King Lear* or a similar literary source. The inclusion of the play’s lines suggests Mortimer intended a visual interpretation of the character’s emotional turmoil, emphasizing themes of exile, suffering, and resilience.

Mortimer employed traditional etching methods, incising the image onto a copper plate before transferring it onto wove paper. The fine line work and strong contrasts of light and shadow create a dramatic chiaroscuro effect, characteristic of the 18th‑century British print tradition that favored narrative intensity and expressive detail.

Created during Mortimer’s most productive period, the print was issued in 1775, the year before he assumed the presidency of the Society of Artists. Mortimer died in 1779 at the age of thirty‑nine, leaving a modest body of printed works that document his interest in theatrical and heroic subjects.

*Edgar* reflects the broader 1770s fascination among British artists with literary subjects and the emotive potential of print media. Mortimer’s choice of a dramatic, almost Romantic figure aligns him with contemporaries who looked to Shakespeare and other dramatists for visual inspiration, echoing the dramatic landscapes of Salvator Rosa while remaining firmly rooted in British sensibility.