Abstract

This article focuses on the highly innovative, but neglected, Irish-English artist Thomas Frye (c. 1710–1762). It examines especially the visual potency of his late mezzotints in a depth not afforded these works before. The character heads of Giambattista Piazzetta were his self-acknowledged inspiration. In all of these mezzotints, Frye adopted, to varying degrees, a portrait-like format transformed by the concept of the “fancy picture.” The resulting works comprise a different form of portraiture altogether. This article also reveals Frye’s recognition of the potential of the mezzotint medium. In ways unlike those of any other artist working in the medium, he exploited the capacity of the “Black Art” for pictorial richness.

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