[''Old Man Wearing Velvet Cap'' or ''Old Man with Spectacles''.] Thos Frye, Pictor, Invenit & Sculpsit [c.1760]. Sold at the Golden Head of Red Lamp, near the Corner of Greville Street in Hatton Garden. Mezzotint, 515 x 365mm (20¼ x 14¼), with small margins. A fine impression of this magnificent image. Light foxing at the bottom, not in image. Very faint crease near left margin in the centre. A man wearing a velvet cap facing the right, his left side profile on show. He holds in his right hand a pair of spectacles. From Thomas Frye's (1710-62) set of mezzotint 17 life-size heads which he published in two series between 1760 and 1762 and for which he is chiefly remembered. Russell believes this could be a self-portrait or another artist that dwelled with Frye, 'Query, a portrait of Thomas Frye. On an impression in Mr. J. Holland's handwriting: "Mr Mellish a painter of shi...
