Martha Saunders, Aged 104

DateMay 1775

Engraver Francis Edward Adams 1754 - 1777

MediumMezzotint engraving on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 7 1/4 × 5 13/16in. (18.4 × 14.8cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2025-33

DescriptionLower margin reads, "MARTHA SAUNDERS AGED 104/ AT No. 2 MAGPYE ALLEY GREYS INN LANE/ MAY 1775."Label TextThis print describes Martha Saunders at age 104 in May 1775. A couple of months later, in December 1775, Saunders died at Gray's Inn Workhouse in Holborn, London. London newspapers reported that Saunders died a pauper and was 103, not 104 years old. In eighteenth-century London, fifty was considered the start of old age. So, 104 or 103 years was considered an extraordinary age. Those who lived, or claimed to live these extraordinarily long lives were called "longevity claimants" and captured the imagination of people. People theorized how these life spans were achieved, read about longevity claimants in magazines, and collected prints of these "long-livers."

Another print in CWF's collection (see 2025-34), is a counterproof of this print. A counterproof is a reversed print that was created by pressing a blank sheet of paper against a newly printed engraving and running them together through the press. Mezzotinters and engravers used counterproofs to check their work.ProvenanceBefore 2025, Grosvenor Prints (London, UK); 2025-present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)