Portret van Mary Hope c. 1767

This is Edward Fisher’s print of Mary Hope, made using Mezzotint in 18th century Britain. Mezzotint allowed printmakers to reproduce the tonal subtleties of oil paintings, fuelling a boom in portrait prints. Here, we see the sitter beside an open window. She is adorned with expensive fabrics and jewellery, a marker of her elite social standing. She rests her hand upon a book, perhaps to suggest intellectual curiosity, another signifier of class. The painting it reproduces would have been commissioned to advertise the sitter’s social status and her family's wealth. Fisher’s print, however, put images like this within reach of a wider audience. By looking at the print market and institutions like the Royal Academy, which promoted particular artists and styles, we can get a clearer picture of the social life of art in Britain at this time. Through further research into family papers, probate inventories, newspapers, and other archives, we can get closer to understanding the people represented.