A half-length portrait to right of Adam Duncan (1731–1804) wearing admiral’s full-dress uniform, 1795–1812, and a cockade hat with a sash over his right shoulder and a star on his left breast. He holds a partially rolled chart with a burning ship in the background on the right. Lettered beneath the image with the title and the publication line: ‘The Noble Admiral Lord Viscount Duncan, Who so Bravely Beat the Dutch, on the 11th of October 1797. / Published 11th February 1798 by Laurie & Whittle, 53 Fleet Street, London.’ This print was published by Richard Holmes Laurie and James Whittle on 11 February 1798. The inscription refers to the victory of Duncan’s fleet over the Dutch at the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797, an event which resulted in the admiral being celebrated as a national hero. Many portrait prints were published in this period to capitalise upon Duncan’s fame, including this example, which comes from cheaper, lower quality end of the print market. The portrait appears to have been drawn from the artist’s imagination, rather than from an existing likeness. This is suggested a mistake in the representation of the admiral’s sash. Duncan was often depicted wearing the sash and star of the Russian Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky, to which he was appointed by Emperor Paul I in July 1797 after commanding an allied Anglo-Russian in the North Sea. However, in this print, he is incorrectly shown wearing his sash over his right shoulder, when the sash of the Order of the Saint Alexander Nevsky was always worn over the left shoulder (as it appears in other portraits of Duncan). The engraver was perhaps getting the relatively obscure Russian order confused with the British Order of the Bath (a more common honour for British naval officers in this period), the sash for which was worn over the right shoulder. (Updated June 2019.)
Technique includes etching.