A Tyger

Art Historical Context

In the late 18th century, fascination with the natural world fueled exquisite depictions of exotic animals, and *A Tyger* (1790) captures this masterfully. Created as a mezzotint print a design by painter James Northcote—a prominent portraitist and animal specialist known for his dramatic realism—the work was engraved by John Murphy and published the influential Boydell brothers, John and Josiah. These publishers championed British art through lavish print series, making high-quality reproductions accessible to collectors and sparking a boom in animal portraiture. Mezzotint, the chosen medium, shines here for its velvety blacks and subtle gradations, achieved by roughening a copper plate and selectively burnishing it to create luminous tones. At 19 x 23 inches, this large-scale print (48.3 x 58.4 cm) renders the tiger's fierce gaze and muscular form with startling depth, evoking both awe and the era's Enlightenment curiosity about wildlife from distant lands. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department since a 1937 gift from Edward W. Root, Elihu Root Jr., and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant III, *A Tyger* exemplifies how prints democratized art, blending scientific observation with artistic drama. Imagine 18th-century viewers poring over it, transported to the wilds of India without leaving their drawing rooms.