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Lot Essay
Frederic Lock was the youngest child and fourth son of William Lock of Norbury Park. He was evidently an engaging child about whom many anecdotes were recorded by Vittoria, Duchess of Sermoneta in The Locks of Norbury: The Story of a remarkable family in the XVIIth and XIXth century, 1940 and he was first drawn aged five by Lawrence (private collection). His health was delicate and he was sent abroad to a warmer climate in the hope of improving his delicate health, but died of consumption in Madeira. The present drawing was probably executed as he set out on his trip as a souvenir.
William Lock of Norbury (1732-1810) was a connoisseur and patron, who set off on his Grand Tour in 1749, meeting Richard Wilson in Rome. The Lock family was the centre of an artistic and literary circle in London and at Norbury, which included such figures as Samuel Johnson, Fanny Burney, the Angerstein family (William Lock's daughter Amelia married J.J.Angerstein's (founder of the National Gallery) son John in 1799, Henry Fuseli and French émigrés such as Madame de Stäel. Lawrence was part of this circle and painted oils of several members of the family including William Lock I and II, the former's wife, Mrs Elizabeth Lock, Charles Lock and his wife and William Lock III and William II's daughter Elizabeth who became Lady Wallscourt (see K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, A Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings, Oxford, 1989, pp. 226-7, nos. 499-504 and p. 277, no. 294). Lawrence was close friends with the female members of the extended family with whom he corresponded, some of his letters to the Angerstein family were sold in these Rooms 27 November 1996, lot 26 and are now in the collection of the Royal Academy. Lawrence executed another chalk drawing on canvas of William Lock I with his daughter Amelia (K. Garlick, 'A catalogue of the paintings, drawings and pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence', Walpole Society, XXXIV, 1962-4, pp. 234).
Lawrence made these large scale drawings on canvas as preparatory drawings for his finished portraits, for example William Lock the Younger (Yale Center for British Art), or as finished works in their own right, for example Portrait of William Lock II, Frederic's brother sold in these Rooms, 17 November 1992, lot 28 and Double Portrait of Richard Rowland Bloxham and Andrew Bloxham, on the eve of their departure for the Sandwich Islands, 1823, Christie's, London, 4 June 2008, lot 23. 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). Lawrence's drawing of the children of Frederic's brother Charles, Portrait of Emily Frederica (1796-1822) and Georgina Cecilia Lock (1798-1867), daughters of Charles Lock of Norbury (1770-1804) was sold in these Rooms 26 January 2023, lot 73 ($56,700).
William Lock of Norbury (1732-1810) was a connoisseur and patron, who set off on his Grand Tour in 1749, meeting Richard Wilson in Rome. The Lock family was the centre of an artistic and literary circle in London and at Norbury, which included such figures as Samuel Johnson, Fanny Burney, the Angerstein family (William Lock's daughter Amelia married J.J.Angerstein's (founder of the National Gallery) son John in 1799, Henry Fuseli and French émigrés such as Madame de Stäel. Lawrence was part of this circle and painted oils of several members of the family including William Lock I and II, the former's wife, Mrs Elizabeth Lock, Charles Lock and his wife and William Lock III and William II's daughter Elizabeth who became Lady Wallscourt (see K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, A Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings, Oxford, 1989, pp. 226-7, nos. 499-504 and p. 277, no. 294). Lawrence was close friends with the female members of the extended family with whom he corresponded, some of his letters to the Angerstein family were sold in these Rooms 27 November 1996, lot 26 and are now in the collection of the Royal Academy. Lawrence executed another chalk drawing on canvas of William Lock I with his daughter Amelia (K. Garlick, 'A catalogue of the paintings, drawings and pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence', Walpole Society, XXXIV, 1962-4, pp. 234).
Lawrence made these large scale drawings on canvas as preparatory drawings for his finished portraits, for example William Lock the Younger (Yale Center for British Art), or as finished works in their own right, for example Portrait of William Lock II, Frederic's brother sold in these Rooms, 17 November 1992, lot 28 and Double Portrait of Richard Rowland Bloxham and Andrew Bloxham, on the eve of their departure for the Sandwich Islands, 1823, Christie's, London, 4 June 2008, lot 23. 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). Lawrence's drawing of the children of Frederic's brother Charles, Portrait of Emily Frederica (1796-1822) and Georgina Cecilia Lock (1798-1867), daughters of Charles Lock of Norbury (1770-1804) was sold in these Rooms 26 January 2023, lot 73 ($56,700).