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Pinkie
In 1794 Lawrence created one of his most memorable works - Pinkie,
now housed in the permanent collection of the Huntington, San Marino,
California. It hangs in the Institute next to The Blue Boy by Thomas
Gainsborough. It is often said, when seen together, the paintings
are the Romeo and Juliet of Rococo portraiture. Pinkie is an oil
painting of Sarah Barrett Moulton, aged 11, the daughter of a wealthy
plantation owner (she died one year later of whooping cough). She stares
directly at the viewer, and the loose brushstroke employed by the artist,
gives the portrait a lively, immediate feel. The painting was exhibited
in the summer of 1795 at the Royal Academy.
Congress of Vienna Portraits
In 1815 Lawrence was knighted by the Prince Regent. Since the death of
his own official neoclassical portraitist John Hoppner in 1810, the Regent
had been patronizing Lawrence. In 1818 Lawrence was sent to Vienna where
he was commissioned to paint 24 full length portraits of Europe's rulers
and dignitaries as they came together for the Congress of Vienna after
Napoleon's defeat. The high profile of his sitters ensured that Lawrence
became one of the most fashionable portrait painters in Europe. In 1820,
on his return to London he was appointed President of the Royal Academy,
following the death of the American expatriate painter Benjamin
West (1738-1820). As part of the Vienna Commission, Lawrence was also
sent to Rome to paint to paint Pope Pius VII. His ensuing work (1819,
Royal Collection, Windsor) is often viewed as the most brilliant papal
portrait since Pope Innocent X (1650, Doria
Pamphilj Gallery, Rome) by Velazquez.
His other paintings included two portraits of the Duke of Wellington.
Portrait of John Philip Kemble
Sir Thomas Lawrence died in London in 1830, but his paintings continue
to inspire generations of portrait artists. In 2009, the National
Portrait Gallery purchased a rarely seen but outstanding portrait
of the actor John Philip Kemble (which hung in Lawrence's home until his
death). The purchase price was £178,500 - primarily funded through
the Art Fund, England's largest charity for the purchase of art. The monumental
oil canvas, over 8 feet tall, shows Kemble at the height of his career
(1812) playing the Roman soldier Cato. The glinting dagger on the table
next to him, suggests that he is about to take his own life in the face
of defeat. When the painting was exhibited in 1812 it was greatly admired,
critics claimed it transcended the 'limits of portraiture and belonged
to the highest school of history'. Lawrence was so pleased with the painting;
he never actually gave it to Kemble. The painting was the key piece in
the National Portrait's 2010 retrospective exhibition of Lawrence's paintings.
Selected Paintings
Portraits by Sir Thomas Lawrence can be viewed in several of the world's
best art museums, in particular the Waterloo
Gallery of the British
Royal Collection at Windsor and that National
Gallery London. Examples of his most popular works include:
- Queen Charlotte (1780, National
Gallery, London)
- Portrait of Miss Martha Carry (c.1789, Prado Museum, Madrid)
- John Julius Angerstein, aged about 55 (1790, National Gallery,
London)
- Elizabeth Farren (1790, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
- Mr and Mrs John Julius Angerstein (1792, Louvre, Paris)
- Pinkie (1794, Huntington Institute, San Marino, California)
- The Daughters of Colonel Thomas Carteret Hardy (1801, Private
Collection)
- The Fluyder Children (1805, Museum Of Fine Art, Sao Paolo)
- Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1814, Wellington Museum)
- Diana Sturt, Lady Milner (1815-20, Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna)
- Portrait of Mrs. Wolff (1815, Art Institute Of Chicago)
- Mrs Isaac Cuthbert (1817, Louvre, Paris)
- The Duke of Wellington (1818, The Bathurst Collection, Sapperton)
- Margaret, Countess of Blessington (1822, Wallace Collection,
London)
- The Calmady Children (1824, Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York)
- John Julius Angerstein, aged over 80 (1824, National Gallery,
London)
- Lord Liverpool (1826, National Gallery, London)
- Miss Caroline Fry (1827, Tate Gallery, London)
- Portrait Of George Nugent Grenville, Lord Nugent (Private Collection)
- Portrait Of The Hon, George Fane (Private Collection)
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