print;
satirical print
- Museum number
- 1868,0808.7751
- Title
- Object: The triumverate of Gloucester place, or the clarke, the soldier, and the taylor.
- Description
-
The Duke of York, full face, sits between Mrs. Clarke (right) and (left) Miss Taylor (see No. 11229) over wine and dessert at a small round table. Mrs. Clarke holds a long scroll headed 'List of Promotions'; its coiled end rests on the ground (see No. 11227). She says: "I have a small list of promotions which I wish to be fill'd up immediately my Dearest". He answers, torpidly besotted, "It shall be done my Darling". Miss Taylor watches the Duke intently; she holds an open book: 'Red Book', see No. 10745, &c. Below the title:
'John Gilpin said of Womankind
I only love but one,
And thou art she my Dearest Dear [cf. No. 11228, &c.]
Therefore it shall be done. Vide Old Ballad John Gilpin'
Plate numbered 69.
7 March 1809.
Hand-coloured etching
- Production date
- 1809
- Dimensions
-
Height: 262 millimetres
-
Width: 350 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
-
In early 1809, a royal scandal distracted the British public from the humiliating defeat in Spain at the Battle of Corunna. The Duke of York was allegedly involved in the sale of army commissions orchestrated by his former mistress, Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke. Their affair had ended in 1805, but he had provided her with a generous annual pension. When this ceased in 1808, Mrs. Clarke retaliated, claiming to have persuaded the Duke to promote officers, who had given her gifts. In the print, the Duke of York is seated with Mrs. Clarke, who is wearing a blue dress and holding a long list. They are in her London town house on Gloucester Place, site of their assignations. She says: “I have a small list of promotions which I wish to be fill'd up immediately my Dearest”. He answers, torpidly besotted, “It shall be done my Darling”. The other woman is Mrs Mary Anne Taylor, a relation and frequent visitor to Gloucester Place, who provided evidence of the Duke's compliance, leading to his resignation in 1809. The text below is from the comic poem by William Cowper. It contrasts the loyal husband John Gilpin with the scandalous Duke.
-
(Description and comment from M. Dorothy George, 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the British Museum', VIII, 1947)
See No. 11216, &c.
Grego, 'Rowlandson', ii. 150. Reproduced, Fulford, 'Royal Dukes', 1933, p. 36.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2018 12 Jan-11 Mar, BM, 90a, Pots with attitude: British satire on ceramics
- Acquisition date
- 1868
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1868,0808.7751
