Lot Essay
The sitter has traditionally been identified as Miss Lucy Meredith, Lawrence's niece, daughter of his sister Lucy and her husband John Meredith, attorney of Temple Row, Birmingham. Born in 1803, she married in 1824 John Aston of Rowington Hall, Warwick. Lawrence made a drawing of the younger Lucy in 1813, in the year of her mother's death, which was engraved by F.C. Lewis. Garlick highlights, however, the likeness of the sitter to the drawing that Lawrence made of his sister, Mrs Lucy Meredith on her death bed. In addition, he points out that, not born until 1803, Miss Lucy Meredith would have been younger than the subject appears on Lawrences' death in 1830 (op.cit).
Lawrence painted other members of his family, including an intimate oil sketch of his aged mother, Mrs Thomas Lawrence (1731-1797), and a portrait of his brother, The Revd Andrew Lawrence (1755-1821) (both on loan to the National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Garlick, op.cit, p.220, nos. 469 and 470 respectively).
Lawrence painted other members of his family, including an intimate oil sketch of his aged mother, Mrs Thomas Lawrence (1731-1797), and a portrait of his brother, The Revd Andrew Lawrence (1755-1821) (both on loan to the National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Garlick, op.cit, p.220, nos. 469 and 470 respectively).