Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

[The trial of Fatima Clarkis]

Image not available
Sir John Hayford Thorold

[The trial of Fatima Clarkis]

Published

[London] : [Printed for the booksellers in Bondstreet [etc.]], [1809]

etching with stipple
image: 140 x 83 mm; sheet: 170 x 98 mm
Peel 1934
Notes
Plate from: London characters; or fashions and customs, of the present century, 1809 v. II, facing page 317, concerning the Duke of York scandal of 1809; the plate appeared as an illustration for a satirical piece entitled "The trial of Fatima Clarkis. A fragment of an oriental tale", by "Barnaby Sketchwell", which concerned the trial of the duke of York, the king's second son and commander-in-chief of the army, for his alleged involvement in the sale of commissions by his former mistress, Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke.
Lettered below image "1. The Aga. 2. Fatima pinning up a new list. 3. Tailoriska. / 4. Captn. Sandonossa. 5. Cupid the Arbitrator of promotions."; at lower right, "Vide. page 317."
Provenance

Formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel.

Summary

Print shows a design in five numbered ovals, with a central medallion portrait atop a pillar featuring the Duke of York ("The Aga"), surrounded by four smaller medallions featuring a portrait of Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke ("Fatima pinning up a new list"), Mrs. Clarke's confidante and coauthor of her memoirs, Elizabeth Taylor ("Tailoriska"), Captain Huxley Sandon, who testified as a witness at the Duke of York's rial in 1809 ("Captn. Sandonossa"), and emblematical design showing "Cupid the Arbitrator of promotions", wearing an officer's bicorne hat, holding a sword in one hand and a bishop's miter in the other, and seated beside a cornucopia of coins; at the foot of the design is the head of Medusa crowned with serpents.

Associated names
Thorold, John Hayford, Sir, 1773-1831. London characters.
Peel, Robert, 1788-1850, former owner.
Classification
Print
Department
Drawings and Prints
Catalog link
See more information »