Finely executed mezzotint portrait of John Sullivan, which claims to be based upon a portrait by Alexander Campbell in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Half length portrait in an oval within a rectangle, left arm extended, right hand holding pike, looking to right, wearing military uniform and cocked hat. c.1776
Mezzotint.
The portrait was engraved and offered for sale in London. London publisher Thomas Hart, issued a series of mezzotints of 'revolutionary rebels', most of which were copied and distributed in Europe with alternate titles.
John Sullivan (1740 – 1795) was an Irish-American General during the American Revolution, and delegate to the Continental Congress. He would later serve as Governor of New Hampshire and a United States federal judge.
During the Revolution, Sullivan commanded the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, a scorched earth campaign against the Iroquois towns that had taken up arms against the American Rebels.