(Portait of a man reading a Ballad)

Samuel Okey after Joshua Reynolds

(Portait of a man reading a Ballad)

London, R Sayer, June 1777

Mezzotint

360 x 255 mm

£180

Samuel Okey was awarded premiums in the Society of Arts in 1765-7. He appears to have emigrated to America about 1771, and to have established himself at Rhode Island, the plates there being executed by Mr Reak, who may have accompanied him from London. The prints were then sent over to England for sale.

An old man reading a ballad, half-length within an oval frame, with long grey hair and full beard, head bowed over the long thin scroll held in both hands