Celebrity in Print
On view
This exhibition is on view in the Michael L. and Carolyn C. McNamara Gallery
This exhibition has been generously funded by Michael L. and Carolyn C. McNamara.
Fame. Notoriety. Celebrated. These were all words used in the 18th century to describe what is known today as celebrity. Through print media – biographies, newspapers, and engravings - stars were born. With the expansion of the printed word and pictures in the 18th century, news and portraits of notable people – both famous and infamous, willing and unwilling – traveled around the globe. Over the course of the 18th century, consumers from every walk of life had access to some kind of printed image of writers, actors, criminals, social climbers, athletes, politicians, and military figures. This exhibition features prints of some of these notable figures from the actor David Garrick to Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row, one of the four “Indian Kings” to the oldest woman Margaret Patten (who claimed to be 136 years old!) to the acrobat Mahomed Caratha . Each person has a unique story to tell.
David Garrick Esq. engraved by Valentine Green after work by Thomas Gainsborough, London, England, 1769, mezzotint. Museum Purchase, 1975-89
Margaret Patten engraved by John Cooper after his own work, London, England, 1737, mezzotint. Museum Purchase, 1979-312
Portrait of Mahomed Caratha the Surpizing Equilibrist engraved by Michael Hanbury, Dublin, Ireland, ca. 1751, etching with line engraving. Museum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund, 2023-308
On Nee Yeath Tow no Riow [Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row (dates unknown)] engraved Pieter Schenk after work by John Faber, Amsterdam, Holland, 1710-1712, mezzotint. Museum Purchase, 1967-344,3
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