Stripping the Slain 1768 - 1778

John Hamilton Mortimer made this etching, "Stripping the Slain," during the 1770s in Britain, a time of social upheaval and war. The image shows a soldier taking garments from a dead man on a battlefield. Mortimer references the visual codes of classical and Renaissance art but subverts them with an emphasis on violence. Here, war is stripped of any nobility and presented as brutal. Mortimer likely made this print for sale to a broad public. Its success would depend on the growth of a market interested in this kind of imagery. The print is a useful source for historians as its commercial nature can tell us about popular taste, and its imagery may reflect a political attitude. By researching estate papers, auction records, and print shop inventories, we can build a picture of the artist’s world, and understand better the social conditions that shape artistic production.