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Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance at the National Portrait Gallery

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Kristin Moore
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« on: January 16, 2011, 11:18:30 pm »

Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance at the National Portrait Gallery
By Laura Burgess | 22 October 2010




Thomas Lawrence, Sir Francis Baring, 1st Bt, John Baring and Charles Wall (circa 1806)
Exhibition: Thomas Lawrence Regency, Power and Brilliance, National Portrait Gallery, London, until January 23 2011

The Duke of Wellington is famous for defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, but despite being one of Britain's greatest military heroes and one of the most famous men of his time he was also a very private man.

Regency artist Thomas Lawrence was one of the few artists to capture an intimate portrait of the military leader. Now on display at the National Portrait Gallery the rarely seen portrait shows Wellington dressed down and off duty during his transition to from soldier to politician.

There are 54 portraits in this exhibition of Lawrence’s high-society artwork – with loans from the Royal Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Palace of Versailles. Each of them reveals a talent for capturing an essence of the sitter.

Evidently an unusual talent, from the age of 11 Lawrence supported his family with his pastel paintings, rising through the Regency ranks of the art world, to paint Queen Charlotte and actress Elizabeth Farren by the time he was 21.
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Kristin Moore
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« Reply #1 on: January 16, 2011, 11:19:21 pm »

Despite his precocious talent he remained level-headed and professional; in 1789 he captured an impressive full-length portrait of the Queen during only one sitting.

The painting was done during the fall of the French monarchy – a very distressing time for the Queen – yet Lawrence captured her in a sympathetic light. The painting catapulted him to stardom and suddenly Lawrence was elected into the prestigious Royal Academy.

Lawrence stood out from his rivals; experimental, bold and daring in his use of textures and colours, particularly red, white and black chalk on primed canvas. This is seen in his portrait, Charlotte Louisa Henrietta Papendiek and her Son, from 1789.

Having modelled for Lawrence before, the painting is a sensitive portrayal of a mother and child. The mother displays a blend of fashion and maternal ease while the toddler plays with his mother's fingers. There is a fluidity to the painting that shows how Lawrence drew directly onto the canvas as a preliminary stage to his painting.

Between 1805 and 1815 the artist was at his most creative, exploring the challenges of group compositions as seen in a painting of Frances Hawkins and her Son, John James Hamilton (1805-6).

Hawkins, the mistress of one of Lawrence’s patrons, John James Hamilton, sits with her illegitimate son in the picture. The portrait received a mixed reaction – his contemporary Henry Fuseli thought it was the most important painting for a hundred years. Others questioned its morality.

Undaunted Lawrence travelled across Europe, painting sovereigns and military leaders. His year in Rome saw him at the top of his game, painting the Pope at the demand of the Prince Regent.

The portrait of Pius VII is hailed as his greatest masterpiece. The frail Pope is depicted as kindly and heroic, underlinging his role in promoting peace and culture over war.

By 1820 Lawrence had become President of the Royal Academy and continued working up until his death in 1830. One of his last and most admired portraits, of George Hamilton-Gordon – the earl of Aberdeen, was unfinished in parts but it was still praised for its grace and simplicity.

This exhibition displays the work of the most influential portrait painter of the 19th century. A critic of Lawrence once wrote that "the magic of his art is thrown around the representations of the most ordinary things." Perhaps this is the key to how Lawrence captured the glamour of the age and created the distinguished image of Regency high-society.

Open 10am-6pm (9pm Thursday and Friday). Admission £9-£12 (free for accompanied under-12s). Book online.
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Kristin Moore
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« Reply #2 on: January 16, 2011, 11:19:58 pm »



Thomas Lawrence, Sir Francis Baring, 1st Bt, John Baring and Charles Wall (circa 1806)
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Kristin Moore
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« Reply #3 on: January 16, 2011, 11:21:41 pm »



http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/painting+%26+drawing/art310907
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