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Lot Essay
According to the inscription the present drawing was a sketch for a painting of the Duke of Wellington with his staff, which was never executed.
Lawrence made these large scale drawings on canvas as preparatory drawings for his finished portraits, for example William Lock the Younger, Yale Center for Britsh Art, or as finished works in their own right, see Christie's, London, 4 June 2008, lot 23, Double Portrait of Richard Rowland Bloxham and Andrew Bloxham, on the eve of their departure for the Sandwich Islands, 1823. Sometimes they were not taken further as 'Lawrence sometimes, nay often, laid aside the first drawing and painted on a copy' from his fear of losing the invaluable benefit of first impressions.' (A. Cunningham, The Lives of the most eminent British Painters, Sculptors and Architects, vol. 6. 1833, p. 195).
The present drawing was executed before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, during which Somerset was hit by a bullet in the elbow which resulted in his arm being amputated (see lot 49).
Lawrence made these large scale drawings on canvas as preparatory drawings for his finished portraits, for example William Lock the Younger, Yale Center for Britsh Art, or as finished works in their own right, see Christie's, London, 4 June 2008, lot 23, Double Portrait of Richard Rowland Bloxham and Andrew Bloxham, on the eve of their departure for the Sandwich Islands, 1823. Sometimes they were not taken further as 'Lawrence sometimes, nay often, laid aside the first drawing and painted on a copy' from his fear of losing the invaluable benefit of first impressions.' (A. Cunningham, The Lives of the most eminent British Painters, Sculptors and Architects, vol. 6. 1833, p. 195).
The present drawing was executed before the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, during which Somerset was hit by a bullet in the elbow which resulted in his arm being amputated (see lot 49).