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Burns

Robert Burns

Mrs Dunlop of Dunlop

Period:
19th Century
Description:

A stippled steel plate engraving from an earlier portrait of Robert Burns' friend and correspondent.

 

Frances Anna Wallace Dunlop of Dunlop was a widow in her middle years and the mother of thirteen children when she first met Robert Burns. She was convalescing after an illness brought on by the death of her husband when she had a Kilmarnock edition of Burns poems given to her. She immediately sent one of her servants to invite Burns to meet her.

 

Burns held her in high regard and wrote more letters to her than to any other of his correspondents. He valued her judgement and was delighted in her claim of descent from William Wallace, the Scottish patriot. When they quarrelled over Burns' interest in revolutionary politics she broke off contact with him and this hurt him deeply. They were reconciled only hours before his death and the last words read by the poet were in a letter from her.

 

This portrait of Mrs. Dunlop was published in "The Land of Burns - A series of Landscapes and Portraits, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of the Scottish Poet". This was published in 1846 by Blackie and Son of Glasgow. At this time the development of steel plate engraving made it possible for images to be reproduced in much greater numbers than previous printing technology had allowed. Books such as this one, illustrated by engravings of works by eminent artists became popular, although they were still  expensive and beyond the pocket of most people.

Materials/Media:
paper
Dimensions:
width: 107 mm, length: 125 mm
Source:
Dumfries Museum & Camera Obscura
Accession number:
DUMFM:0199.72 [Land of Burns, Volume I]
Digital Number:
DMBN179n
Creation Date:
1846
Copyright:
Dumfries & Galloway Council