Portrait of a lady, half-length, in a yellow dress with blue ribbons

Lawrence was a child prodigy, drawing portraits in pencil from the age of eight. When the family moved to Bath, following his father's bankruptcy in 1780, he began drawing in pastel, probably taught by William Hoare. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in pastel in 1787, but had abandoned the medium almost entirely after 1790. The degree of accomplishment of the present work suggests that it was executed towards the end of this period.