Portret van Archibald Douglas 1770

Valentine Green made this print of Archibald Douglas in England, sometime around 1770. The composition, with its idealized figure of Justice, places Douglas in a long tradition of aristocratic portraiture intended to convey status and power. However, this image also bears traces of the cultural and institutional forces at work in eighteenth-century England. The figure of Archibald Douglas is presented in a medallion, and in the lower half of the pedestal upon which the medallion sits, three smaller figures can be seen. These are the judges in the famous "Douglas Cause" case, which saw Archibald Douglas inherit his uncle's title and estates. In commissioning and circulating this print, Douglas made his case to a broader public and put pressure on legal and social institutions to validate his claim. Legal documents and newspaper accounts help us understand the social and political context of this work, and, in turn, its meaning for contemporary viewers.