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[Miss Dempster.]
G. Willison. T. Watson.
Publishd as the Act directs Oct.r 1.st 1771.
Mezzotint with small margins, proof before title, rare. Plate 501 x 355mm (19¾ x 14").
Portrait standing three-quarter length to right leaning on rock, her right hand to her cheek, head turned to face left over her shoulder, with basket of flowers to right; with robe draped over her right shoulder, and scarf in her hair; landscape seen behind. Portrait after George Willson (1741-97), a Scottish artist whose career owed much to his uncle George Dempster, director of the East India Company and a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment. Dempster sponsored Willison's artistic training in London and Rome, and subsequently secured him a position at the court of Mohamed Ali Khan Walejah, Nawab of the Carnatic. The sitter in this portrait is probably Dempster's daughter. CS 12: i. Goodwin 11: i.
[Ref: 28895] £550.00
[The Honble. Arch.d Douglas.]
G. Willison pinxit. Val. Green fecit.
Publish'd Octr. 22nd 1770, by G. Willison Greek Street, Soho, London.
Proof mezzotint, scratched letters and publication line, 422 x 605mm 16½ x 23¾ inches. Minor rubbing, minor printing imperfection in the plate in Justice's robes, stains lower left. In the final state the engraving carries a dedication, "To his Grace Charles Duke of Queensberry and Dover, This plate is most humbly Dedicated by His Grace's most obedient and obliged humble Servant. George Willison".
Allegorical portrait, bust-length to front within oval, held by figure of Justice, resting the image on carved pedestal and trampling Calumny beneath her feet; proof. Archibald Douglas, 1st Baron Douglas [1748–1827] litigant and politician. The relief medallions of Camden and Mansfield are references to the final decision in one of the eighteenth century's most famous legal battles. The Douglas Cause, was the challenge to Archibald's inheritance by the Hamiltons, who argued that he and his brother were supposititious. The Hamilton lawyers put together a plausible circumstantial argument that Archibald was actually Jacques Louis Mignon, the son of a Parisian glassworker, who had disappeared in July 1748. The case was litigated at great length and expense (the two sides spent £54,000 between them). It attracted tremendous interest, especially in Scotland. Not only was a large estate at stake, but many felt that requiring Archibald Douglas to in effect prove his identity raised a question that could endanger the security of inheritance in general. In Scotland the Douglas side enjoyed broad popular support, with James Boswell an especially eager partisan, though many of the literati favoured the Hamilton side. In 1767 the court of session decided by the casting vote of the lord president against Douglas. Douglas appealed to the House of Lords which, following the opinions of law lords Mansfield and Camden, reversed the decision without a division. Whitman 20.i. CS:39.i Ex: Collection of The Hon. C. Lennox-Boyd.
[Ref: 15814] £480.00
[Henrietta Fordyce] M,,rs Fordyce.
[G. [ Willison Pinx.t. W. Shropshire excudit. Tho.s Watson fecit.
Publish'd as the Act directs April 1st. 1771, for W. Shropshire in New Bond Street, London.
Mezzotint. Sheet 495 x 335mm (19½ x 13¼"). Trimmed into image on three sides, affecting inscriptions, into plate at bottom.
Three-quarter length portrait of Henrietta Fordyce (1734-1823), celebrating her 1771 marriage to clergyman James Fordyce. She holds a bouquet to her breast and carries a fringed fan.
[Ref: 63533] £160.00
(£192.00 incl.VAT)
[Miss Stuart]
G. Willison pinx.t Val. Green fecit.
London, printed for Rob.t Sayer No. 53 Fleet Street, Published as the Act directs 9 July 1770.
Proof mezzotint, 485 x 285mm. 19 x 11¼".
A provocative portrait of a woman in an oval border engraved by Valentine Green (1739-1813) after the Scottish artist George Willison (1741-1797). CS 125. W: 12: ii of iii. Ex: the Collection of the Hon. C. Lennox-Boyd
[Ref: 14863] £260.00
(£312.00 incl.VAT)
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