File:Dorothea Jordan, née Bland (1762-1816), Irish actress, active in England - Nationalmuseum - 181321.tif

"An unfinished portrait of a lady called Mrs Jordan, née Dorothea Bland (1762-1816), in white dress and large hat with ostrich plumes. On ivory. Oval, 70 mm. high, gilt-metal frame with blue glass reverse on guilloché foil, the surround engraved 'Dorothy Bland, Mrs Jordan, by Rdus. Cosway. R.A. 1798'. The sitter was an Anglo-Irish actress, courtesan and the mistress and companion of the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV. Her career began with the role of Phoebe in As you Like it in Dublin, and subsequently in the role of Lady Teazle in Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal in London. Her relationship with the Duke of Clarence began in 1791 and she lived with him at Bushy House. They had ten children together and when they parted in 1811 she was given a yearly stipend and custody of their daughters, while the Duke retained custody of the sons. The arrangement of her stipend stipulated that she should not return to the stage. On doing so, to help a son-in-law with a debt, the Duke cut her off and removed their daughters from her care. She fled to France in 1815 to avoid her creditors and died in poverty a year later."

Utställningar: London, Grafton Galleries, Grafton Street, 'Fair Women', Summer Exhibition, 1894, no. 189 (as dated 1789, lent by Lord Tweedmouth). London, Moncorvo House, 64 Ennismore Gardens, Richard Cosway R.A. and Maria Cosway, May 1895, no. 149 (lent by Lord Tweedmouth).

Litteratur: G. C. Williamson, Richard Cosway, R.A., and his Wife and Pupils, London, 1897, illustrated opposite p. 26, listed on p. 122 within a group of miniatures belonging to The Lord Tweedmouth, dated 1789. A. Aspinall [ed.], Mrs Jordan and her Family, London, 1951, illustrated frontispiece (as in the possession of the Earl of Munster). P. H. Highfill, Jr., et al, A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800, Illinois, 1982, p. 260 ('Portraits of Dorothy Jordan include: [...] 3. By Richard Cosway. Miniature in the possession of the Earl of Munster').