Sir Edm.d Mason.
Record Pinx.t. F. Jukes Sculp.t.
Pub.d Aug.t 8 1788 by I. Holl, Printseller, High Street, Worcester.
Aquatint with large margins; printed in sepia. 240 x 190mm (9½ x 7½").
'Sir Edmund Mason, or the Knight Poker; a lunatic of Cheltenham'. Mason (d.1801) has been called the 'English Quixote', being convinced that he was the greatest general of the age, with honours heaped on him by all the royalty of Europe, especially Frederick the Great of Prussia, as displayed in this portrait. He owned the fastest race horse in the land and was in love with a princess from some far off land. He was always penniless because of the problems of cashing bills of exchange for millions. Although he always bore arms he was regarded as harmless and his manners were so impeccable that he was humoured locally. However in his later years to had to be confined for his own safety; he reconciled this in his mind by taking his confinement as the governorship of a castle.
[Ref: 33238] £130.00
Pub.d Aug.t 8 1788 by I. Holl, Printseller, High Street, Worcester.
Aquatint with large margins; printed in sepia. 240 x 190mm (9½ x 7½").
'Sir Edmund Mason, or the Knight Poker; a lunatic of Cheltenham'. Mason (d.1801) has been called the 'English Quixote', being convinced that he was the greatest general of the age, with honours heaped on him by all the royalty of Europe, especially Frederick the Great of Prussia, as displayed in this portrait. He owned the fastest race horse in the land and was in love with a princess from some far off land. He was always penniless because of the problems of cashing bills of exchange for millions. Although he always bore arms he was regarded as harmless and his manners were so impeccable that he was humoured locally. However in his later years to had to be confined for his own safety; he reconciled this in his mind by taking his confinement as the governorship of a castle.
[Ref: 33238] £130.00