Background
Thomas Lawrence was born on April 13, 1769 in Bristol, United Kingdom. He was the youngest surviving child of Thomas Lawrence, a supervisor of excise and innkeeper, and Lucy Read, the daughter of a clergyman.
Thomas Lawrence was born on April 13, 1769 in Bristol, United Kingdom. He was the youngest surviving child of Thomas Lawrence, a supervisor of excise and innkeeper, and Lucy Read, the daughter of a clergyman.
Thomas had little regular education or artistic training. In 1787, he left for London, where he studied at the Royal Academy schools for a short time. Also, it was at that time, that the young painter caught the eye of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who encouraged him to use his studio for studying and copying.
Also, the painter had a little tuition in French and Latin.
In the late 1790's, Thomas started to earn money from his portraits and supported his parents financially, when his father failed his business. His first full length portrait was exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1789 to much acclaim.
In 1792, after the death of Reynolds, Lawrence was appointed Principal Painter in Ordinary to the King George III. He soon became the foremost portrait painter in England, a position he maintained until his death. His portraits of women are models of beauty and elegance, whether the sitter be a tragic actress like Mrs. Siddons, a social figure like the Princess de Lieven or a personal friend.
In 1814, he was commissioned by the Prince Regent to paint the Allied victors of the Napoleonic Wars. For this, Thomas traveled to Vienna and Aix-la-Chapelle (present-day Aachen in North Rhein Westphalia, Germany). These portraits form the Waterloo chamber in Windsor Castle and include portraits of Wellington, Prince Metternich, Pope Pius VII, the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool, Field Marshal von Blucher, Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh and George IV.
In 1815, the painter was knighted and some time later, in 1820, he was elected a president of the Royal Academy of Arts, a post he held until his death.
Despite his fame and wealthy clientele, Lawrence’s financial affairs were very unstable. Although, he did not lead a particularly lavish lifestyle and was known to be a hard worker, Lawrence spent much of his life in debt.
Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester
Mrs Sarah Siddons
George Canning
Jacob, 2nd Earl of Radnor
Sir John Soane, Aged 76
George Tennyson
Louisa Jane Allen (Mrs John Wedgwood)
Warren Hastings
Charles William Vane-Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry
Sir James Mackintosh
Mrs Littleton
Miss Caroline Fry
William Wilberforce
Countess of Oxford, Wife of the 4th Earl of Oxford
Elizabeth Thynne, Countess Cawdor
King George III
George Henry Fitzroy
Thomas Campbell
James Palmer, Treasurer of Christ's Hospital
Matthew Baillie
John Wilson Croker
The Masters Pattison. William Henry Ebenezer Pattison, and His Brother Jacob Howell Pattison
Elizabeth Sykes, Mrs Wilbraham Egerton
Caroline of Brunswick, Queen of George IV
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore
John Julius Angerstein, aged over 80
Thomas Moore
Head of a Boy
William IV, as the Duke of Clarence
George Dance the Younger
Lady Georgiana Fane
Thomas Gataker
Daniel Lysons, Topographer and Rector of Rodmarton
John Philip Kemble
John Murray
Isabella Anne Hutchinson
Satan Summoning His Legions
Richard Payne Knight
Hugh, 2nd Duke of Northumberland
Head of an Old Lady
Lady Caroline Lamb
Lady Anna Powell
William Windham
John Philip Kemble
Harriet Elizabeth Peirse, Lady Beresford
George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron, Poet
Humphry Davy
Lady William Gordon
George III
George III
Portrait of a Lady
Princess Lieven
Sophia, Lady Burdett
Lady Maria Hamilton
Self Portrait
George Granville Leveson-Gower
Sir Robert Frankland Russell
Paulina
Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, KG
Mrs Siddons
Homer Reciting his Poems
John Abernethy
A View of Dovedale, Looking toward Thorpe Cloud
Lieutenant-General (later General Sir) Robert Brownrigg
Robert Southey
William Eden
Queen Charlotte
Shute Barrington
A Gipsy Girl
Sir Graham Moore
Charlotte Dee, Mrs Charles Edmund Nugent, as Mrs Johnstone
Marianne Vivian
Sir John Beckett
Edward Jenner
Georgiana Maria Leicester, Lady de Tabley, as 'Hope'
The Countess of Darnley
Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch
Sir Henry Halford
William Carr
Sir John Moore
Prince Hoare
Astley Paston Cooper
Sir Astley Paston Cooper
Charles Greenwood
George Canning
John Bradburne
Robert Chuter
Portrait of a Lady
Dr John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury
John Philip Kemble
Sir Joseph Banks
Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Lord Castlereagh)
Thomas Williams
George IV
Lieutenant-General William Craven
Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of Brunswick
Sir William Grant
George Canning
George IV
Henrietta Maria Hill, Marchioness of Ailesbury
Portrait of a Young Man
Portrait of a Bishop
Frederick William Hervey
Samuel Edwards
James Haughton Langston of Sarsden
Charles Harvey
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Bt
Dr John Moore, Physician and Author
Queen Charlotte, Wife of George III
Maria Woodley
Charles Hope, as Bacchus
Mrs Sarah Siddons, née Sarah Kemble, as 'Mrs Haller' in Kotzebue's 'The Stranger'
Sir Charles Richard Vaughan
Sir William Grant
Study of a Girl
George Gordon
George IV
Shute Barrington
James Curtis
Miss Laura Dorothea Ross (Mrs Francis Robertson)
Lieutenant General Sir William Carr Beresford
Edward Venables-Vernon Harcourt, as Archbishop of York
Joseph Farington
James Watt
Anthony Francis Haldimand
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
John Nash
William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
Robert Banks Jenkinson
Anne Frances Bankes
Sir Edward Pellew, Lord Exmouth
King George IV
Philadelphia Hannah, 1st Viscountess Cremorne
Sir William Grant
Mrs Cecilia Lock
Thomas Le Breton
William Brabazon
Elizabeth, Marchioness Conyngham
John Rolle
John Arthur Douglas Bloomfield, 2nd Baron Bloomfield
Sir Codrington Edmund Carrington
John Philip Kemble as Hamlet
Head of an Unknown Young Woman
Mary Digges
Mrs Charles Thellusson, née Sabine Robarts, and Her Son, Charles Thellusson
Mrs Alice Wood
Hon. William Windham
Head of a Lady
Portrait of a Lady
Self Portrait
Mrs John Trower
John Frederick Campbell
Viscount Tracy of Rathcoole
John Julius Angerstein, aged about 55
Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon
John Vivian of Claverton
Samuel Woodburn
George IV, Seated, in Morning Dress
Miss Murray
William van Mildhert
Sarah Trimmer
William Linley
Charles Rose Ellis, 1st Baron Seaford of Seaford, MP
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne
George IV (detail)
Charles Kemble
Charles Kemble
Head of a Girl
Sir John Freeman-Mitford, Baron Redesdale
The Countess of Aberdeen
The Honourable Berkeley Paget
Thomas William Coke of Holkham
Master Charles Hope
Sir Mark Sykes, Henrietta Masterman Sykes and Tatton Sykes
A Child
George IV
Maria, Lady Callcott
Henry Venables-Vernon, 3rd Baron Vernon
The Right Honourable Edward Pellew
Portrait of the Hon. Emily Mary Lamb
Harriet Anne, Countess of Belfast
Lydia Elizabeth Hoare, Lady Acland, with Her Two Sons, Thomas, Later 11th Bt, and Arthur
Sir Robert Peel
Field Marshal Sir Henry William Paget
Portrait of a Lady
Philip Sansom
John Jeffreys Pratt
John Fawcett
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Lieutenant-General (later General) Thomas Graham
Mrs Siddons
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux
Emily and Harriet Lamb as Children
HRH George, Prince of Wales, KG
Lady Lea
Margaret, Countess of Blessington
The 3rd Marquess of Hertford
Thomas William Coke
Lawrence enjoyed his great success. He lived for his work, never married and was a prodigious worker. He was of an exceptionally generous nature, as an artist and as a man, with a rare talent for appreciating and encouraging the talents of others. He was an ardent collector of Old Master drawings. His collection, which was dispersed after his death, was the largest and best, that has ever been formed in England.
Lawrence never married, but was the subject of much gossip in his days. He was romantically linked with many women, including both Sally and Maria Siddons.