Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (1769-1830)
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Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (1769-1830)

Portrait of a lady, probably Lucy Meredith, the artist's sister, seated half-length, in a white dress with paisley sash, in a feigned stone cartouche

Details
Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A. (1769-1830)
Portrait of a lady, probably Lucy Meredith, the artist's sister, seated half-length, in a white dress with paisley sash, in a feigned stone cartouche
oil on canvas
30 1/8 x 25½ in. (76.5 x 64.8 cm.)
Provenance
By descent from the sitter to William Coningham (1815-1884), M.P. for Brighton;
William Capper Coningham (the above's son);
Elizabeth Hester Wathers (née Coningham) (the above's daughter);
Audrey Roche (the above's niece; Christie's, London, 21 March 1975, lot 114, as 'Portrait of a lady, said to be Lucy Meredith' (£2,730 to Leger).
with Leger Galleries, London, as 'Portrait of Lucy Meredith, niece of the artist'.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 27 January 2000, lot 155 ($68,000 to the present owners).
Literature
K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Oxford, 1989, p.237, no.556 illus., as 'Mrs. John Meredith (1763?-1813)', the artist's sister.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 15% on the buyer's premium

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).

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