Reverse copy of Maria Scotorv Regin et Franciae Dotaria
mid-to late 18th century
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 3/4 × 8 1/16 in. (29.8 × 20.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1958
Accession Number
58.549.101
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intriguing etching and engraving, titled *Reverse Copy of Maria Scotorum Reginæ et Franciae Dotariæ*, pays homage to Mary Queen of Scots (1542–1587), the enigmatic Scottish monarch whose life blended royal splendor with tragedy. Created in the mid-to-l 18th century byavers George Vertue—a prolific English antiquary known for documenting historical portraits—and Charles Mosley, it reproduces an earlier image of Mary, depicted with her coat of arms and symbolic skulls, evoking memento mori themes of mortality that resonated in Tudor-era art. The "reverse copy" likely refers to the mirrored ...