Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. and Studio

Probably by descent in the sitter's family, Stamford Hill, until at least 1913 (according to Armstrong);

With Philip Mould, London;

From whom acquired.

W. Armstrong, Lawrence, London 1913, p. 128;

K. Garlick, Lawrence, London 1954, pp. 35 and 73, Appendix III, no. 55;

K. Garlick, ‘A Catalogue of the paintings, drawings and pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence’, inThe Walpole Society, vol. XXXIX, 1964, pp. 70 and 285, Appendix IV, no. 131;

K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence. A complete catalogue of the paintings, Oxford 1989, pp. 180–81, no. 256.

ENGRAVED

Richard James Lane (1800–1872), after 1823.

This portrait was commissioned by the sitter's husband on 4 June 1823, but like many others, was unfinished at the time of Lawrence's death. The artist's Executor, Archibald Keightly, describes it as '1/2 finished' – the head was painted by Lawrence, but the sitter's dress and the background had only been roughly worked out by the artist. Justly, perhaps, Mr Droop only paid half the original fee upon delivery of the painting – 150 guineas, instead of 300.¹ Armstrong argued that this portrait was completed by Samuel Lane (1780–1859), who had worked in Lawrence's studio since 1802.

Richard James Lane (1800–1872), great-nephew of Thomas Gainsborough, a prominent lithographer and engraver, also produced an engraving after the present portrait.²

¹ Garlick 1954, p. 73, Appendix III, no. 55.

² https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw85373/Mary-Droop-ne-Richmond