John Kay was a prolific portrait etcher and miniature painter. He was self taught, leaving the barber trade in 1785 for caricature portraiture. Kay made nearly 900 plates of almost every notable Scotsman of his era, producing a minute world of Edinburgh society.

In this work he captures lawyer, Hamilton Bell, carrying a winemaker’s boy on his back in a race against John Rae, a noted surgeon. Two women hauling fish walk against them. Apparently, when the work was published, Bell issued a writ of suppression which proved unsuccessful.

Represented at the British Museum, Yale University Library and the National Portrait Gallery, ‘John Rae, Charles Oman, and Hamilton Bell, from Edinburgh Portraits series’ is a wonderful find for collectors of important prints and portraits.

John KAY (1742 - 1826)
'John Rae, Charles Oman, and Hamilton Bell, from Edinburgh Portraits series' c. 1790
Stipple engraving on paper
Image Size: 12 x 12 cm
Dimensions: 12 x 14 cm
Signed: Signed in plate lower left: I Kay fecit; dated in plate lower right
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Represented at The National Portrait Gallery (UK), accession no: NPG D32339
 
Condition: Excellent
 
© The Artist or Assignee