| Method | Stipple |
| Artist | Ridley |
| Published | Published as the Act directs 27, Dec. 1792, by T.Evans No. 40 Pater Noster Row. |
| Dimensions | Image 100 x 87 mm oval, Plate 175 x 111 mm, Sheet 204 x 118 mm |
| Notes |
A half-length portrait of opera singer Gertrude Elizabeth Mara in an oval. She is turned to her right facing the viewer, feathers in her hear, pearls around her neck, and ruffle at her neckline. Gertrud Elisabeth Mara (née Schmeling) (23 February 1749 – 20 January 1833) was a German operatic soprano. Born in Germany to a musician, she learned to play the violin at an early age. She studied under Johann Adam Hiller in Leipzig for five years, alongside Corona Schröter, proving to be endowed with a wonderful soprano voice. She began to sing in public in 1771, and was soon recognized as the greatest singer that Germany had produced. She was permanently engaged for the Prussian court in Berlin, but her marriage to a debauched cellist named Mara created difficulties, and in 1780 she was released. After singing in Vienna, Munich and elsewhere, she appeared in Paris in 1782, where her rivalry with the singer Luísa Todi split the public into Todists and Maratists. In 1784 she went to London and continued to appear there with great success, with visits at intervals to Italy and to Paris till 1802, when for some years she retired to Russia, where she lost her fortune at the time of the French invasion. She visited England again in 1819, but then abandoned the stage. She went to Livonia, where she became a music teacher in Reval, and died there in 1833 in extreme poverty; she was buried at Kopli cemetery. Ridley (1764 - 1838) was a printmaker who primarily produced stipple engravings. He produced book illustrations and prints after artists including Gainsborough, Lawrence and Reynolds. Not in O'Donoghue Condition: Over all time toning and a crease in the publication line. A drawing on the verso. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £30.00 |
| Stock ID | 40140 |