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A Sacrifice Interrupted
Also known as: A Druidical Sacrifice Interrupted; Allegory; Sacrificial Scene
About the Artwork
One of the most talented draftsmen of his generation in England, John Hamilton Mortimer became known for a style of drawing in pen and ink that was bold, confident, and energetic. This sheet depicts a large crowd in a frieze-like arrangement gathered to witness a figure with an axe on the verge of decapitating a young male captive. Mortimer deliberately sought out obscure narratives and leaned toward the violent and macabre. In spite of the research of numerous art historians, the specific subject of the drawing has yet to be identified.
Provenance
?-1978: (Ramiel M. Howitt, London, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) 1978-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979). 18th Century Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 6-November 22, 1981). The Birth and Flowering of British Romantic Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-July 22, 1990). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). British Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art . The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-May 26, 2013).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- John Hamilton Mortimer (British, 1740–1779)
- Date
- 1770s
- Medium
- pen and brown ink
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 24.5 x 36 cm (9 5/8 x 14 3/16 in.); Secondary Support: 31.7 x 43.7 cm (12 1/2 x 17 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund and Delia E. Holden Fund
- Accession no.
- 1978.20
More by John Hamilton Mortimer in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011059
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