Regency Portraits Catalogue
Dorothy Jordan (Mrs Jordan) (Dorothea Phillips) (1761-1816), Actress; mistress of William IV
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
W. J. Lawrence in 'The Portraits of Mrs Jordan', 1910 reproduced NPG L174 in colour. Lilian Hall, Catalogue of Dramatic Portraits in … Harvard College Library, 1930-4 lists 72 prints of her, mostly in character.
The main portraits of Mrs Jordan are by Hoppner and Romney. The Hoppners are noted in L174.
1786
Romney painted her as 'Peggy' in Garrick's The Country Girl. A version of this, formerly belonging to Mrs Jordan's fourth son Augustus FitzClarence, is at Waddesdon Manor, discussed and reproduced in Ellis Waterhouse, The James Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Paintings, 1967, p 100; it was engraved by John Ogborne 1788. Several other variants by Romney are known.
1790-5
Gainsborough Dupont painted her with a sheaf of corn, Garrick Club (370), reproduced by Dr John Hayes in Connoisseur, CLXIX, 1968, p 227.
1792
Pastel by John Russell, exhibited RA 1801 (13) and engraved by James Heath 1802, half-length with mandolin; Russell's original drawing, then in Thomas Goff's collection, is reproduced in Brian Fothergill, Mrs Jordan Portrait of an Actress, 1965, p 209.
c.1792
Miniature by W. Chalmers engraved by R. Clamp 1792, half-length with a miniature of the Duke of Clarence at her bosom.
1798
Miniature by J. T. Barber exhibited RA 1798 (880) and engraved by Ridley 1804.
Undated
Miniature by Cosway is reproduced in A. Aspinall, Mrs Jordan and her Family, 1951 as frontispiece together with its companion of the Duke of Clarence.
Miniature by R. Dighton, engraved by K. Mackenzie.
Miniature by Samuel Shelley in Royal Pavilion, Brighton.
In character
Oil by Sir Robert Kerr Porter, three-quarter-length as the 'Comic Muse', engraved by J. Godby and published 1806.
Drawing by O. Steeden, half-length as 'Nell' in The Devil To Pay, engraved by J. Rogers and published in New English Drama, 1824.
Doubtful
Portraits by Gainsborough, Reynolds and Lawrence are constantly referred to and reappear in the sale rooms but have never been authenticated.
Posthumous
Chantrey's statue in the Earl of Munster's collection was commissioned by William IV in 1831 and is reproduced in Whinney, Sculpture in Britain, 1964, plate 179; versions are in the Royal Collection (Buckingham Palace) and at Penshurst; the clay model in the Ashmolean Museum (593-81) was in the Chantrey Exhibition, NPG, 1981 (28).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
The main portraits of Mrs Jordan are by Hoppner and Romney. The Hoppners are noted in L174.
1786
Romney painted her as 'Peggy' in Garrick's The Country Girl. A version of this, formerly belonging to Mrs Jordan's fourth son Augustus FitzClarence, is at Waddesdon Manor, discussed and reproduced in Ellis Waterhouse, The James Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Paintings, 1967, p 100; it was engraved by John Ogborne 1788. Several other variants by Romney are known.
1790-5
Gainsborough Dupont painted her with a sheaf of corn, Garrick Club (370), reproduced by Dr John Hayes in Connoisseur, CLXIX, 1968, p 227.
1792
Pastel by John Russell, exhibited RA 1801 (13) and engraved by James Heath 1802, half-length with mandolin; Russell's original drawing, then in Thomas Goff's collection, is reproduced in Brian Fothergill, Mrs Jordan Portrait of an Actress, 1965, p 209.
c.1792
Miniature by W. Chalmers engraved by R. Clamp 1792, half-length with a miniature of the Duke of Clarence at her bosom.
1798
Miniature by J. T. Barber exhibited RA 1798 (880) and engraved by Ridley 1804.
Undated
Miniature by Cosway is reproduced in A. Aspinall, Mrs Jordan and her Family, 1951 as frontispiece together with its companion of the Duke of Clarence.
Miniature by R. Dighton, engraved by K. Mackenzie.
Miniature by Samuel Shelley in Royal Pavilion, Brighton.
In character
Oil by Sir Robert Kerr Porter, three-quarter-length as the 'Comic Muse', engraved by J. Godby and published 1806.
Drawing by O. Steeden, half-length as 'Nell' in The Devil To Pay, engraved by J. Rogers and published in New English Drama, 1824.
Doubtful
Portraits by Gainsborough, Reynolds and Lawrence are constantly referred to and reappear in the sale rooms but have never been authenticated.
Posthumous
Chantrey's statue in the Earl of Munster's collection was commissioned by William IV in 1831 and is reproduced in Whinney, Sculpture in Britain, 1964, plate 179; versions are in the Royal Collection (Buckingham Palace) and at Penshurst; the clay model in the Ashmolean Museum (593-81) was in the Chantrey Exhibition, NPG, 1981 (28).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.