Mary, Queen of Scots escaping Lochleven Castle (from "The History of England")

1830–60
Not on view
This engraving shows William Douglas (son of Sir William Douglas) helping Mary Queen of Scots to escape from Lochleven Castle. While confined there for eleven months in 1566-67 she had been forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son James. Douglas masterminded the queen's escape from the island fortress on May 2, 1568. The print was based on an eighteenth-century painting by Robert Smirke, reengraved here to illustrate Thomas Gaspey's "The History of England: from the text of Hume and Smollett, to the Reign of George III" (1830, with later editions in 1852-54 and 1860).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Mary, Queen of Scots escaping Lochleven Castle (from "The History of England")
  • Engraver: John Rogers (British, active ca. 1810–61)
  • Artist: After Robert Smirke (British, Wigton, Cumberland 1752/53–1845 London)
  • Author: Related author Thomas Gaspey (British, 1788–1871)
  • Publisher: J. & F. Tallis & Co., London, Edinburgh, and Dublin (British, active 1842–51)
  • Sitter: Mary, Queen of Scots (British, Linlithgow 1542–1587 Fotheringhay)
  • Date: 1830–60
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 7 9/16 × 7 3/8 in. (19.2 × 18.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1958
  • Object Number: 58.549.194
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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