Lord Henry Fitzgerald

Hoppner, John, after · 1789

Mezzotint portrait on paper of Henry FitzGerald (1761-1829) dressed as Don Felix from the comedy 'The Wonder', engraved and published by Thomas Park (1760-1835) in London in 1806. State with lettering but before cleaned and finished. It is a copy of a painting by John Hoppner (1758-1810) which was sold in a 2015 Adam’s sale (Dublin). Henry was one of 19 children to Emily Lennox (1731-1814), Duchess of Leinster, and James FitzGerald (1722-1773), 1st Duke of Leinster. 'The wonder: a woman keeps a secret' (1714) was written by popular playwright Susanna Centlivre (c.1669-1723). Perhaps her most successful work, it was performed at least 250 times by 1800 and was the play in which David Garrick (1717-1779) chose to make his farewell performance (10 June 1776). The play concludes, 'that man has no advantage but the name.'