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Lot Essay
This subtle yet vivid portrait of Emily Charlotte, Lady Berkeley, is a remarkable example of Sir Thomas Lawrence's early work, painted at the start of a career that was soon to prove meteoric. The portrait was one of eleven works exhibited by the artist at the Royal Academy’s annual Summer Exhibition in 1791, the year he was elected an associate of the prestigious institution. Lawrence’s precocious artistic ability, demonstrated in the works that he exhibited there the previous year, had already won him a reputation as the natural heir to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and following the latter’s death in 1792, he took over as Painter-in-Ordinary to King George III.
During the artist’s first years in London, Lady Berkeley and her family were among Lawrence’s earliest patrons. Along with Emily Charlotte, he painted her husband, Sir George Cranfield Berkeley, her two sisters, Maria Louisa and Georgina (fig. 1; all three now in the Earl Bathurst collection, Cirencester Park) and, later, her brother-in-law, Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl of Bathurst (Royal Collection Trust, Windsor). The portraits of all three sisters were exhibited at the Royal Academy.
Emily, Lady Berkeley, was the second of three daughters of Lord George Lennox (1737-1805), an army officer and politician whose career took him and his family throughout Europe. Lord Lennox was the younger son of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, whose father, the 1st Duke, was the illegitimate son of King Charles II.
Emily’s husband, Sir George Cranfield Berkeley (1753-1818) also sat for Lawrence early in the artist’s London years, though the whereabouts of his portrait, last recorded in 1928, are now unknown (Garlick, 1989, loc. cit.). He was the younger son of Augustus, 4th Earl of Berkeley, and had a distinguished naval and political career. He received his first naval command in September 1778 and was eventually promoted to Admiral in 1810, though he was most notable for the distinguished part he played as commander of the Marlborough in the victory of 1 June 1794. He also played a crucial role as Commander-in-Chief on the coast of Portugal between 1808 and 1812, giving naval support to Arthur Wellesley's (later 1st Duke of Wellington) military campaigns against the French on the Iberian peninsula. The Berkeleys’ marriage appears to have been a happy one. They lived at Wood End in Sussex, near the Richmond estate of Goodwood, and in Portugal Street in London.
The intimacy that Lawrence achieves in this portrait, and indeed in those of Lady Berkeley's sisters, is something distinct from the portraiture of Reynolds and Gainsborough and reflects his sensitivity to the changing social attitudes of the time. Lawrence's delight in the handling of paint is manifested in the masterly brushwork with which he so deftly conveys Lady Berkeley's powdered hair and the sensuous lines and texture of her elegant white dress and black shawl. Sir Michael Levey commented on Lawrence's 'almost fevered sensibility' and 'tautly receptive, nervously keen sensitivity', in addition to his great technical mastery. In this portrait, Lawrence captures something of the freshness and vivacity of Lady Berkeley's character as well as her alluring youthful beauty.
This portrait passed by inheritance until 2013 through Lady Berkeley's youngest daughter, Louisa Georgina Berkeley, who was married to Sir Thomas Hardy, the Naval officer famously with Admiral Nelson at his death.
During the artist’s first years in London, Lady Berkeley and her family were among Lawrence’s earliest patrons. Along with Emily Charlotte, he painted her husband, Sir George Cranfield Berkeley, her two sisters, Maria Louisa and Georgina (fig. 1; all three now in the Earl Bathurst collection, Cirencester Park) and, later, her brother-in-law, Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl of Bathurst (Royal Collection Trust, Windsor). The portraits of all three sisters were exhibited at the Royal Academy.
Emily, Lady Berkeley, was the second of three daughters of Lord George Lennox (1737-1805), an army officer and politician whose career took him and his family throughout Europe. Lord Lennox was the younger son of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, whose father, the 1st Duke, was the illegitimate son of King Charles II.
Emily’s husband, Sir George Cranfield Berkeley (1753-1818) also sat for Lawrence early in the artist’s London years, though the whereabouts of his portrait, last recorded in 1928, are now unknown (Garlick, 1989, loc. cit.). He was the younger son of Augustus, 4th Earl of Berkeley, and had a distinguished naval and political career. He received his first naval command in September 1778 and was eventually promoted to Admiral in 1810, though he was most notable for the distinguished part he played as commander of the Marlborough in the victory of 1 June 1794. He also played a crucial role as Commander-in-Chief on the coast of Portugal between 1808 and 1812, giving naval support to Arthur Wellesley's (later 1st Duke of Wellington) military campaigns against the French on the Iberian peninsula. The Berkeleys’ marriage appears to have been a happy one. They lived at Wood End in Sussex, near the Richmond estate of Goodwood, and in Portugal Street in London.
The intimacy that Lawrence achieves in this portrait, and indeed in those of Lady Berkeley's sisters, is something distinct from the portraiture of Reynolds and Gainsborough and reflects his sensitivity to the changing social attitudes of the time. Lawrence's delight in the handling of paint is manifested in the masterly brushwork with which he so deftly conveys Lady Berkeley's powdered hair and the sensuous lines and texture of her elegant white dress and black shawl. Sir Michael Levey commented on Lawrence's 'almost fevered sensibility' and 'tautly receptive, nervously keen sensitivity', in addition to his great technical mastery. In this portrait, Lawrence captures something of the freshness and vivacity of Lady Berkeley's character as well as her alluring youthful beauty.
This portrait passed by inheritance until 2013 through Lady Berkeley's youngest daughter, Louisa Georgina Berkeley, who was married to Sir Thomas Hardy, the Naval officer famously with Admiral Nelson at his death.