Portrait of a Gentleman, half-length, wearing a blue coat and a white waistcoat and stock, seated in a landscape

Towards the end of 1780 the Lawrence family settled in Bath. Where Thomas began to draw likenesses in pastel rather than pencil. It has been suggested that he received lessons in pastel from William Hoare. Lawrence charged three guineas a head for his drawings, 'at that time, and for Bath, a very extraordinary sum', according to Lawrence's first biographer D.E. Williams (The Life and Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lawrence, Kt., London, 1831, vol. I, p. 73). Lawrence remained in Bath until 1786. A similar portrait from this period was sold at Christie's London, 9 November 1993, lot 9 (£805).
Dr. Kenneth Garlick has confirmed that this pastel was executed in Bath.