Mary, Queen of Scots
October 1, 1829
Medium
Stipple engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 7 1/4 × 4 13/16 in. (18.4 × 12.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Accession Number
17.3.756–1819
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate stipple engraving, titledMary, Queen of Scots* and dated October 1, 1829, captures the tragic Tudor-era monarch in a refined portrait format. Produced by Harding and Lepard with James Thomson, it reflects the early 19th-century fascination with historical royalty, when Romantic-era audiences devoured stories of Mary's dramatic life—from her French upbringing and Scottish reign to her imprisonment and execution in 1587 on orders from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Printed on a modest sheet measuring 7¼ × 4⅞ inches, it belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints...