Mercury and Calypso
John Flaxman
n.d.
Medium
Pen and black ink, over graphite, on ivory wove paper, laid down on tan wove paper
Dimensions
20.9 × 27.6 cm (8 1/4 × 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
77248
About the Artist
John Flaxman · 1755–1826
John Flaxman (1755–1826) was born in York, England, the son of John Flaxman Sr., a moulder and seller of plaster casts who ran a studio in London's Covent Garden. Largely self-taught amid his father's stock of classical casts, with minimal formal schooling due to childhood illness, Flaxman displayed prodigious talent early on. At age 12, he won a Society of Arts prize for a medallion; by 15, anoth...