Mezzotint version of portrait takes 10 times the top estimate at auction
John Faber’s mezzotint version of a portrait by John Vanderbank of Nicholas Saunderson (1682-1739), a celebrated blind scientist and mathematician, was bid to 10 times the high estimate in a Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium) general clear-out sale.
Born in Yorkshire in 1682, he lost his sight through smallpox when only a year old, but as he grew…