John Dixon after Thomas Gainsborough

Henry, Duke of Buccleugh

15.5 bx 21 inches

This delightful portrait shows the duke in an informal and rural setting with his arms affectionately thrown around the neck of his water spaniel. He wears a plain frock coat adorned with the insignia of the Most Ancient and Noble Order of the Thistle. The sitter was born on the 2nd September 1746 and succeeded his grandfather in 1751 as the 3rd Duke of Buccleugh. He married Elizabeth the daughter of the Duke of Montagu in 1767, thereby uniting two great aristocratic families. He was eventually to succeed to the dukedom of Queensbury in 1810, two years before his death in 1812.

John Dixon was born in Ireland in about 1740 and started his career as a silver engraver in Dublin. He moved to London in the mid 1760's and soon gained a reputation as a skilled engraver of portraits. He was lucky enough to marry a lady of fortune and thereafter his profession became an amusement rather than a necessity. He died in Kensington in about 1780. His work is distinguished by being very powerfully engraved and rich in tone. Also, because the copper is scraped so deeply, a large number of impressions could be taken from each plate.