David Martin
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, 1742 - 1811. Statesman
About this artwork
No one in late eighteenth century Scotland was as powerful as Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. Trained as a lawyer, Dundas moved speedily into politics. Solicitor-General at twenty-four, Lord Advocate at thirty-three, Dundas became the 'intimate friend and trusted lieutenant' of the British prime minister, William Pitt. He controlled Scottish elections and patronage and was widely known as 'Harry the Ninth, the uncrowned King of Scotland'.
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title:Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, 1742 - 1811. Statesman
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accession number:PG 2745
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materials:Oil on canvas
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date created:1770
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measurements:127.60 x 101.60 cm (framed: 148.40 x 122.20 x 9.20 cm)
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credit line:Purchased with the aid of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 1988
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photographer:Antonia Reeve
David Martin
David Martin
David Martin was born in Anstruther, Fife, the son of a schoolmaster. He trained under Allan Ramsay, working in his fellow Scot's London studio from about 1752. In 1755 he joined Ramsay in Rome and probably returned with him to London in 1757, working as his chief assistant,…