# The New International Encyclopædia/Lawrence, Thomas

Edition of 1905. See also Thomas Lawrence on Wikipedia; and the disclaimer.
​LAWRENCE, Sir Thomas (1709—1830). An English portrait painter. He was born at Bristol, May 4, 1769. His father, who had been educated for the law, was an actor and afterwards an inn-keeper. At the age of ten he portrayed the notables of Oxford in crayon, and when his father removed to Bath, his son's studio, although he was but twelve years old, was a favorite resort of beauty and fashion. In his seventeenth year he began to paint in oils, and in 1787 he went to London, exhibiting a number of paintings and portraits at the Academy, the schools of which he entered. His attractive manner and appearance won his way into high society, and in 1789 he had attained Court patronage, and in the following year his painting, “An Actress.” attracted much attention. In 1791 George III. induced the Academy to elect him an associate, against its own rules, since he was only twentyone — an honor never since repeated. In 1792 he succeeded Sir Joshua Reynolds as painter to the King, whose portrait he painted in the same year. He was in high favor with George IV., who knighted him in 1815.
In 1817 he was sent to Aix-la-Chapelle to portray the European sovereigns and nobles there assembled, including the Emperors of Austria and Russia, the King of Prussia, and Prince Metternich. At Rome he was received as a second Raphael and assigned apartments in the Quirinal, where he painted two of his best portraits, those of Pius VII. and Cardinal Gonsalvi. He was made a member of the Academies of Rome and Florence, and on the evening of his return to England, in 1820, he was elected president of the Royal Academy. In 1825 he was sent to Paris to portray the King and the Dauphin. He possessed one of the finest collections of drawings of the old masters ever in private hands; part of which is now in the Museum of Oxford. He died in London, January 7, 1830.
Sir Thomas was the most celebrated painter of his day, but in the reaction against former extravagant praises, scant justice is now done him. He had an unusually acute perception of the graces of society — the elegant airs of the men, and the gracious smiles of the ladies. His execution was facile, his composition and draughtsmanship were good, but his portraits lacked character, and his color, though brilliant, was often hard and glassy. His most perfect works are his drawings in crayon and pencil. His few historical pieces were of little value, but some of his portraits, like those of Mrs. Siddons, and “An Actress,” probably Miss Farren, are very beautiful. Among the most notable are the series of the participants in the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, noticed above, in Waterloo Gallery, Windsor Castle. The National Gallery possesses those of Angerstein, Benjamin West, Mrs. Siddons, Sir Samuel Romilly, Miss Caroline Fry, and “Child with a Kid.” besides others on loan. In the South Kensington Museum are those of Princess Caroline and Sir C. E. Carrington; in the National Portrait Gallery, George IV., Princess Caroline, Lord Thurlow. Lord Eldon, William Windham, James Mackintosh, Wilberforce, Warren Hastings, Samuel Rogers, Thomas Campbell, and Elizabeth Carter. Consult: D. E. Williams, Life and Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lawrence (London, 1831); Lewis, Imitations of Sir Thomas Lawrence's Finest Drawings (London, 1839).