Lord Viscount Duncan from the Original Picture Painted by Mr Orme & Presented by his Lordship To Admiral De Winter

An oval bust-length portrait of Adam Duncan (1731–1804) in admiral’s full-dress uniform, 1795–1812, with a flag officer’s gold medal for the Battle of Camperdown and the sash and star of the Russian Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky. Lettered beneath the image with the publication line and the title: ‘Lord Viscount Duncan from the Original Picture Painted by Mr Orme & Presented to his Lordship To Admiral De Winter’. This print was engraved and published by Daniel Orme after his miniature portrait of the admiral, which is now in the collection of the House of Orange-Nassau. The miniature was painted after Duncan’s victory over the Dutch at the Battle of Camperdown on 11 October 1797 and presented by the sitter to Admiral Jan Willem de Winter, the commander of the defeated Dutch fleet. At the same time, Orme also painted de Winter’s miniature (now National Museums Scotland), which the Dutchman gave to Duncan in a reciprocal exchange of portraits. This exchange functioned as a demonstration of mutual respect between the former adversaries, aligning them with a chivalric and gentlemanly code of warfare. . At the same time, it also registered the personal friendship that developed between Duncan and de Winter in the aftermath of the battle when the latter was a prisoner of war. De Winter spent his time as a prisoner in Duncan’s flagship, the ‘Venerable’, 74 guns, and then on parole in London, before being granted compassionate release to return home to Amsterdam in December 1797 to be with his wife, who had suffered a stroke. In a letter now held by National Museums Scotland, de Winter wrote to Duncan from Amsterdam that ‘you have made an Admiral who was your Enemy, one of your most attached Friends’. The two men continued their correspondence for several years. Orme was a miniaturist, engraver and history painter. In late 1797, he began work on a historical picture representing de Winter’s surrender to Duncan at the Battle of Camperdown (see BHC3100). He visited Duncan’s flagship, the ‘Venerable’, to make sketches for the painting and to interview participants in the battle. It was perhaps at this time that he met the two admirals and painted their miniatures. He later recorded that Admiral de Winter had ‘very politely sat to him (only) and made a reciprocal Exchange of Portraits with his conqueror, who became his Friend.’ Orme created engravings after the two miniatures and published them as a pair on 18 December 1797 (see this print for Duncan and PAD3194 for de Winter). (Updated April 2019.)

Object Details

ID: PAD3075
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Orme, Daniel
Date made: 18 Dec 1797
People: Duncan, Adam
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 205 x 157 mm; Mount: 477 mm x 316 mm
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