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The Romp

January 3, 1786
Not on view
Rushworth here depicts a scene in the second act of T. A. Lloyd's play, "The Romp" where Priscilla Tomboy prepares too box Young Cockney, their altercation observed by Captain Sightley and Miss La Blond. In her first London season, the young Dorothea Jordan's performance as the boisterous West Indian heiress at the Drury Lane Theatre from October 18, 1785 helped ensure the play's success. James William Dodd played Young Cockney, William Barrymore played Sightley (both characters show romantic interest in Priscilla in the play), and Miss Barnes played Miss La Blond (the latter's off-stage career as a milliner perhaps suggested by her large hat). The drama's full title was "The Romp. A Musical Entertainment in Two Acts, Altered from 'Love in the City' by Mr. [Isaac] Bickerstaff." Born into an Anglo-Irish family with multiple stage connections, Jordan soon became one of London's leading comic actresses. In 1791 she would begin a twenty-year relationship with William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Romp
  • Artist: R. Rushworth (British, active 1785–86)
  • Publisher: S. W. Fores (London)
  • Sitter: Dorothea Jordan (Irish, 1761–1816)
  • Sitter: James William Dodd (British, London ca. 1740–1796 London)
  • Sitter: William Barrymore (Blewitt) (British, 1759–1830)
  • Date: January 3, 1786
  • Medium: Hand-colored etching
  • Dimensions: sheet: 10 11/16 x 16 1/8 in. (27.2 x 41 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
  • Object Number: 59.533.172
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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