A mezzotint of Charles I the Martyr King by William Faithorne Jr dated c1690s

FAITHORNE JR, William (1656-1703). Corruptibilem pro incorruptibile. Mezzotint portrait of King Charles I as the Royal Martyr, published by Edward Cooper, London, c.1690s.
 
305 × 195 mm. Mezzotint on paper, laid to a later card support. Good overall. Trimmed at the upper margin with loss of the engraved title, Corruptibilem pro incorruptibile, age toning and occasional surface wear, and chips to edges in particular bottom left, but with the portrait, engraved verses and publisher's imprint "E. Cooper ex." remaining clear and complete. 
 
A scarce late Stuart political mezzotint depicting King Charles I as the Royal Martyr receiving the heavenly crown whilst raising his hands in prayer. Beneath the portrait are sixteen engraved lines beginning "Looking to Jesus so our Soveraigne stood...", denouncing the "New Regicides", comparing contemporary political opponents with the regicides of 1649 and specifically invoking Edmund Ludlow, one of the signatories to Charles I's death warrant.
 
Following the Restoration, and particularly during the politically turbulent decades that followed the Glorious Revolution, Charles I came to be celebrated by many High Church Anglicans, Tories and royalists as a Christian martyr who had exchanged an earthly crown for a heavenly one. Prints such as this were produced not merely as portraits but as overt political and devotional statements, promoting the ideal of hereditary monarchy whilst condemning republicanism and resistance to the Crown. 
 
Attributed to William Faithorne Jr (c.1670-1703) and published by the London printseller Edward Cooper (d.1725), the present impression corresponds with the examples preserved in the National Portrait Gallery, London (Reference Collection NPG D30993) and British Library. None for sale in commerce, and only a small number held in institutions, makes this scarce.