Mary, Queen of Scots

Mary, Queen of Scots|John Kay

1791 · Stipple and etching · Drawings and Prints

Kay sometimes made etchings of important historical figures, as well as portraying his Edinburgh contemporaries. Here he based a half-length image of Scotland's most famous queen on an engraving by George Vertue, the latter in turn relying on a sixteenth-century painting by Nicholas Hillard. Mary Stuart is shown three quarter length, facing right within an oval, wearing a dark gown with a ruff, gauzy cape, gable headdress, with one cross hanging from a chain around her neck and another from a linked belt. See 58.549.167 and 17.3.756-1112 for a slightly later variant where the sitter faces to the left and is shown half-length.

Artist

Mary, Queen of Scots|John Kay

Date

1791

Medium

Stipple and etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Susan Dwight Bliss, 1958