image id: ps_prn_590
John Jones (ca. 1745–1797), after John Hoppner (1758–1810)
Mrs. Jordan in the Character of Hypolita
Mezzotint
[London]: J. Jones, March 1, 1791
NYPL, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Print
Collection
Dorothy—known as Dora—Jordan was the most important comedienne
of her day. For close to twenty years she was also the mistress to the Duke
of Clarence, later King William IV, with whom she had ten children, raised
in cozy domesticity. Audiences adored her, and her gamine appeal shines out
of her portrait as Hypolita, one of the cross-dressing roles for which she
was famous.
