A Prisoner Chained by His Feet

Through his collecting and artistic practices, amateur English artist John Skippe demonstrated a preference for antiquarian themes. Influenced by drawings he collected during his travels throughout Europe, many of his prints reproduce works by Old Master artists. “A Prisoner Chained by His Feet” depicts a man lying on the floor with his legs raised and chained to a wall. The print comprises four tone blocks printing light green, green, brown, and brown-black. The image reverses a figure in Jacopo Tintoretto’s “A Saint Dragged to Execution by His Feet,” a drawing that belonged to Skippe.