Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft, from Old English Masters
1899, printed 1902
Medium
Wood engraving on chine paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 43.5 × 34.5 cm (17 3/16 × 13 5/8 in.)
Classification
wood engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
77323
Art Historical Context
In the Prints and Drawings department of the Art Institute of Chicago Timothy Cole's *Portrait of Mary Wollstone, from Old English Masters (designed 1899, printed 1902) captures the fierce intellect of the 18th-century British writer and philosopher. Wollstonecraft, best known for her groundbreaking *A Vindication of the of Woman* (1792), championed women's education and equality during the Enlightenment, challenging societal norms in an era of rigid gender roles. Cole's wood engraving immortalizes her as part of his acclaimed series reproducing portraits of historic English figures, bridging ...
About the Artist
Timothy Cole
Timothy Cole (1852–1931) was one of the most celebrated wood engravers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, renowned for his extraordinary ability to translate the tonal richness of Old Master paintings into the exacting medium of engraved wood. Born in London, England, Cole emigrated with his family to the United States in 1858. He began his career as a wood engraver in Chicago, but t...