A Portrait [Sir David Dundas] - Reissue

To put it bluntly, Gillray and Hannah Humphrey were in business to make money. So when there was an opportunity to bring in additional pounds by selling an earlier print with a few minor changes, they were not averse to doing so.

Such was the case when the Mary Ann Clarke scandal erupted in the first quarter of 1809. The former mistress of the King's favorite son, the Duke of York, Clarke was accused of selling military commissions (with the help of the Duke) to supplement her already princely (pun intended) allowance. As a result, the Duke was forced to resign his post as Commander in Chief of the British army and Sir David Dundas was named as his replacement.

Gillray had etched a portrait of Dundas based on an amateur drawing (likely by Thomas Braddyll) back in 1796. It shows a flat and unexpressive Dundas seated awkwardly upon a horse reviewing the troops. With Dundas once again in the news, and nothing in the print itself to tie it to 1796, Gillray seems to have been willing to resurrect the plate, burnish off the old date and publication location, and publish the print as if it were new. As you can see below, he did not take much trouble doing even that. He left the words "Pubd" and "Hannah Humphrey" intact, and awkwardly squeezed the new date "March 17th" into the small space formerly occupied by the shorter date "May 12th." Had the print been of better quality or based on a design of his own, he would probably have taken more care.

Sources and Reading

• Commentary from the British Museum on A Portrait [Sir David Dundas].
• "David Dundas (British Army officer)," Wikipedia
• "Mary Anne Clarke," Wikipedia
• "The Duke of York Scandal, 1809," The History of Parliament
• "Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany," Wikipedia
• "Thomas Braddyll," A History of Parliament