James Macardel Mezzotinto Scraper (after a self portrait drawing by Macardel from 1765)

Richard Earlom

A portrait in mezzotint by English printmaker Richard Earlom, after the 1765 self-portrait drawing by great Irish mezzotint artist James Macardell, who died at age fifty-seven, soon after the drawing was executed. This mezzotint was commissioned in 1771 by the publisher Robert Sayer, who also purchased and reprinted the plates of Macardell, whose work he greatly admired.

Macardell was known for his own mezzotints after the paintings of Sir Joshua Reynolds, with whom he worked for several years. He was a founder of the mezzotinters’ club known as “The Dublin Group.” The image is of Macardell with a mezzotint scraper in his hand, resting his right elbow on the copper plate on which he is working.

As etched in the bottom margin of the plate, the drawing was in the collection of Richard Bull, Esq., a member of British parliament from 1756 to 1780 and an avid collector of prints and drawings.