,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,edited ,,by - - ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare ,,lawrence #agfi--ahcj 8,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour0 ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,boucher4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,corot4 ,,sidney ,,allnutt4 ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,,delacroix4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,d,,rer4 ,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,furst4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,fra ,,filippo ,,lippi4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,hogarth4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,ingres4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,finberg4 ,,lawrence4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,le ,,brun1 ,,vigee4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,mantegna4 ,,mrs4 ,,arthur ,,bell4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,perugino4 ,,selwyn ,,brinton4 ,,raeburn4 ,,james ,i4 ,,caw4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,sargent4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,watts4 ,w4 ,,loftus ,,hark4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,others in ,preparation4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,master ,,lambton4 ,frontispiece 7,in the collection of the ,earl of ,durham7 ,in painting this portrait 7for which he is said to have received #fjj7 ,lawrence was happy in his sitter4 ,the child has good looks and a very intelligent face1 but unfortunately he is over-posed4 ,one misses the simplicity1 the natural attitude1 the spontaneous gesture1 found in portraits of children by ,sir ,joshua1 and feels that although ,lawrence made an attractive picture1 his sitter has been made too self-conscious for childhood4 ,,lawrence ,,by ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan ,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,illustration3 ,,in ,,sempiternum4 ,,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack ,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,master ,lambton ,frontispiece ,in the collection of the ,earl of ,durham ,page ,,ii4 ,mrs4 ,siddons #ad ,in the ,national ,gallery ,,iii4 ,portrait of ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,john ,julius ,angerstein #bd ,in the ,louvre ,,iv4 ,miss ,georgina ,lennox1 afterwards ,countess ,bathurst #cd ,in the collection of ,earl ,bathurst ,v4 ,miss ,maria ,siddons #dj ,in the ,wallace ,collection ,,vi4 ,portrait of a ,lady #ej ,in the ,wallace ,collection ,,vii4 ,portrait of ,countess ,blessington #fj ,in the ,wallace ,collection ,,viii4 ,king ,george ,,iv4 #gj ,in the ,wallace ,collection ,i ,the prodigy is no unfamiliar figure in our midst to-day--indeed the world's wonder children tend ever to increase in numbers and attainments4 ,for the most part they belong to the realm of music2 poets and artists must be made as well as born4 ,we are but mildly excited when the papers announce the arrival in town of a child who can play the piano like ,rubinstein or the violin like ,paganini2 we know that though the statement be a gross and misleading exaggeration1 we shall at least hear work that is little short of marvellous from hands that might well have known no heavier burden than toys4 ,we know1 too1 that these precocious children tend to make their dbut and disappear1 making way for others4 ,if they are to develop their promise1 a long spell of study is inevitable1 and for the most part parents and guardians are more intent upon present profit than future prestige4 ,the precocious lad whose talent makes him a painter is rare4 ,natural aptitude for drawing and natural sense of colour are not uncommon1 but the possessor of these gifts may remain quite undistinguished4 ,he generally succeeds in doing so in these days when the old traditions of art are despised by the cognoscenti1 and the genuine faculty of interpretation is not understood or appreciated by the rank and file of those who pay their annual tribute of one shilling to the authorities of ,burlington ,house1 and are not always ashamed to frame the colour plates that illustrated papers inflict upon their long-suffering subscribers4 ,life is harder for the young painter of genius than his contemporary musician of like age4 ,it was not always so1 and turning back to the history of ,england's accepted artists1 the name of ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence1 ,p4,r4,a41 stands out as one of the most brilliant examples in the history of art1 of untutored skill that came near to amounting to positive genius4 ,the history of the ,italian painters provides us with many cases in which men1 starting life with talents akin to those that ,lawrence enjoyed1 claimed and found a measure of immortality4 ,only a few will be found to declare that the ,english painter is destined to the very highest place in the annals of ,british art1 but at his best he is a very notable painter indeed1 in spite of the fact that everything in his life was working in opposition to the best interests of his art4 ,he had no education1 his gifts were exploited shamelessly from the days when he was a little boy4 ,as he grew up1 the imperious need for money gave to purely commercial work the precious years that should have been surrendered to study4 ,happily ,fortune was not altogether unkind4 ,she checked the proper development of rare talent1 she kept the painter from all opportunity of becoming the most outstanding figure of his generation in the critical eyes of generations to come2 but1 on the other hand1 she loaded him with all the material favours within her gift4 ,his career was as brilliant as the passage of a meteor through the sky2 he rose from surroundings of the most unsatisfactory kind to the highest place in the profession he adorned4 ,he became the intimate of princes and people of high degree1 and1 with certain limitations imposed by an incomplete education1 he was a great painter4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,mrs4 ,,siddons 7,in the ,national ,gallery7 ,in this portrait ,lawrence has dealt faithfully with the greatest actress of his time4 ,the face suggests the latent power that could upon occasion hold an audience spell-bound1 and there is a certain quality of intimacy about this remarkable study that shows the painter's effort to express the full depths of a complex character4 ,as in the case of ,miss ,maria ,siddons1 the painting of this portrait was a labour of love4 ,from many of his canvases we can see man's splendid gifts struggling for full expression4 ,at times he seems to be a reflection of a still greater man1 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds2 at other times he is the founder of a tradition that lesser men were to make vulgar and commonplace and bring ultimately into disrepute4 ,but at every period of his life and in every aspect of his work with which we are acquainted1 ,thomas ,lawrence is interesting--perhaps it is permissible to say he is even lovable4 ,one gets the impression of a strong man who has equipped himself for life's race in despite of disadvantages that would have crushed and quelled the spirit of a weakling1 a man who makes for the most difficult goal1 and reaches it in triumph4 ,he is an ,englishman every inch of him1 and the spirit that supported him is one he shared with the greatest of this island's citizens4 ,even the most severe of his critics cannot hide their admiration of the man1 though they are most acutely conscious of the shortcomings of the artist4 ,it is fair to remember1 too1 that much of the painter's work was done under certain disadvantages inherent in the times of his activity4 ,with the close of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century1 costume was stiff and ugly to an extreme that excites our laughter now4 ,the age of artificiality was upon land1 and ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence was not so well equipped for making the best of it as were ,reynolds and ,gainsborough1 who came immediately before him4 ,that he succeeded so often in making the personality of a sitter overcome the absurdities of dress and decoration is an eloquent tribute to his art4 ,his treatment of children is frankly delightful but frankly derivative2 it is only necessary to refer to such portraits as the 8,childhood's ,innocence10 8,master ,lambton10 8,nature10 and the 8,countess ,gower and ,daughter10 to see how great is his debt to one who was facile princeps among the painters of childhood--,sir ,joshua himself--and how far he fell short of his teacher's greatness4 ,but the gallery of children is a small one2 the collection of representative men and women of his time is far larger1 more representative1 and painting many of these portraits the artist is speaking with his own voice1 the voice that lured so many men of a later generation to assume it as their own1 with results that are little short of lamentable4 ,students of the life of ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence must surely have shared the writer's regret that the strong soul1 the sure hand1 and the far-seeing eye were not destined to have lived and thrived in the golden age of the ,italian ,renaissance4 ,then such natural gifts were stimulated to the highest possible pitch of development by the splendour of a more flamboyant life1 the glory of a less restricted power1 the rare beauty of pageant and of costume unknown to late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century ,england1 in a land where beauty was the very keynote of existence4 ,there1 poverty was a stimulus to countless artists whose very names thrill us as we mention them1 men whose genius is enshrined in the galleries of ,venice1 ,florence1 and ,rome4 ,under ,italian skies such gifts as ,lawrence possessed would have blossomed and budded and filled the face of the world with fruit4 ,eighteenth- and nineteenth-century skies in ,england were never bright enough to teach ,lawrence the one secret that his canvases lack--the secret of exquisite colour that came to ,sir ,joshua in his prime1 though1 alas1 it faded from so many canvases as surely as it passed from the laughing faces that thronged his studio4 ,taste1 ,lawrence had in a very marked measure2 his draughtsmanship was facile and sure to an almost dangerous degree2 but in point of colour1 as in some of the more subtle qualities of portrait-painting1 he lacked the equality of gifts that would have silenced our later-day criticism4 ,only when we turn to consider the conditions under which his early life was passed1 and the labours that were enforced upon him at a tender age1 do we cease to complain of his slight limitations in wonder of the great gifts that passed unscathed through his troubled childhood1 his scanty days of training1 his long years of devoted toil1 his season of honours and great rewards4 ,the record of ,lawrence's life is full of interest that has been heightened in the past few years by the publication in #aijd of 8,an ,artist's ,love ,story10 edited by ,mr4 ,oswald ,g4 ,knapp4 ,with the issue of this work1 made up of hitherto unpublished letters written by the painter1 ,mrs4 ,siddons and her daughters1 ,martha and ,maria1 a fresh and interesting light was thrown upon the artist's relations with the great actress and upon his devotion to her daughters2 the countless stories and rumours that passed current in his day have been corrected4 ,through this correspondence we see more of the man than any biography had ever succeeded in showing us1 and as the painter had been dead for more than seventy years when the book was published1 and had left no descendants1 there could be no suggestion of impropriety in the publication4 ,many of the letters are more than a century old4 ,in the light of the leading biographies1 the brief one by ,redgrave1 the longer and more interesting biography by ,allan ,cunningham1 and some others of less note1 and with the aid of this volume of correspondence1 it is possible to set down at all necessary length the story of the artist's life1 and to speak with some authority of the conditions under which the bulk of his work was done4 ,,ii ,,the ,,painter',s ,,life ,thomas ,lawrence was born in the year #agfi1 when ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds was in his forty-sixth year1 and ,gainsborough was two-and-forty years his senior4 ,his father1 after whom he was named1 was a ne'er-do-well of decent birth and good education who had made a clandestine marriage with a lady of better social position than his own2 for ,lucy ,read1 who married ,thomas ,lawrence1 senior1 was related to the ,powis family4 ,because she listened to his suit she was disowned and disinherited by her relations4 ,her influence upon her son would seem to have been wholly good2 indeed he was devoted to both parents1 though his father started to exploit the child's gifts in nursery days2 and his grief when the old people died was very severe4 ,thomas ,lawrence1 senior1 8stiff in opinion1 always in the wrong10 was 8everything in turn and nothing long40 ,attorney1 verse-writer1 actor1 exciseman1 and farmer1 he had become a tavern-keeper when his sorely tried wife presented him with the baby who was destined to paint the portrait of ,benjamin ,west that hangs in the ,national ,portrait ,gallery1 and to succeed him as ,president of the ,royal ,academy4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,portrait ,,of ,,mr4 ,,and ,,mrs4 ,,john ,,julius ,,angerstein 7,in the ,louvre7 ,this work1 despite one or two regrettable conventions from which the painter was never entirely free when he put more than one figure on his canvas1 is of more than passing interest4 ,mr4 ,angerstein was a great collector of pictures1 a wealthy man to whom the painter was often in debt4 ,the head of ,mrs4 ,angerstein is beautifully posed4 ,at a very early age little ,thomas ,lawrence developed a wonderful gift for making life-like sketches1 and at the same time he inherited his father's gift of recitation4 ,such an effective combination seemed to be too good to waste1 and the elder ,lawrence employed the lad to improve custom in the ,bristol tavern over which he presided in his own careless fashion4 ,visitors were invited to hear the infant prodigy recite1 or if their ears were duller than their eyes1 they were invited to sit for their portraits4 ,doubtless this was excellent for custom1 but it did not avail altogether1 for the ,bristol house on the great ,bath ,road soon passed into the hands of unsatisfied creditors1 and the family moved1 not without considerable private aid1 to the ,black ,bear ,inn at ,devizes1 then a place of importance to the coaches passing on their way to and from the west4 ,at ,devizes the boy received a little education1 nothing better than a smattering1 and was called upon at short intervals to exhibit his precocity4 ,he soon found an influential and appreciative audience4 ,a large proportion of those who patronised the ,black ,bear ,inn were men of position and culture2 they could not only appreciate the boy's gifts1 but could reward them4 ,indeed we read that a few years later the elder ,lawrence received an offer from one of his old-time visitors1 ,sir ,henry ,harpur1 to send the boy to ,italy and have his gifts developed in the best schools4 ,unhappily the father knew as much about art as he did about inn-keeping2 he was indignant rather than pleased with the suggestion that foreign study could improve the child's gifts4 8,my son's talents10 he replied1 8require no cultivation10 and this answer says more for his stupidity than all his repeated failures to adapt himself to any one of the many occupations he followed so unsuccessfully until the time came when he could live in comparative affluence upon the proceeds of his boy's talent4 ,doubtless in the latter days he ever prided himself upon the discernment that had kept the lad by his side4 ,the artist's earliest work would seem to have consisted of chalk drawings which were produced with great rapidity and sold to his father's customers for half a guinea or a guinea each4 ,the likeness in each case must have been good1 for it is on record that one of his earliest efforts1 a sketch of ,lady ,kenyon1 who stayed at his father's inn with her husband1 was easily recognised five-and-twenty years later4 ,but drawing was not the only accomplishment of his early days4 ,he was1 as has been remarked earlier1 a clever reciter4 ,garrick heard him twice when he was a lad1 and on the second occasion asked his father if 8,tommy was to be an actor or a painter80 ,the father had no doubt at all about the profession that promised to be the more profitable1 and1 in later years1 when the artist was very anxious to go upon the stage1 was at great pains to persuade him not to do so4 ,as his son was more intent upon helping the family than anything else1 the advice was taken1 and doubtless the results justified it4 ,the theatre could have offered no equal reward for talent1 however great4 ,to the end of his days the painter was a fluent reciter1 and possessed a mastery over his voice that could turn every tone into a caress4 ,more than one woman was misled by it into thinking that the artist was seriously in love with her4 ,as early as #aghe young ,lawrence received his first public recognition2 it came from the ,society of ,arts1 which was then quite a serious rival of the ,royal ,academy4 ,he sent a copy on glass of a ,transfiguration1 perhaps one he had seen at ,corsham ,house1 the seat of the ,methuen family4 ,it was made two years before1 when the painter was fourteen years of age1 and although the rules of the ,society did not admit of a work being put in for competition more than a year after it was painted1 the ,council felt bound to make an exception in this case1 and presented him with five guineas and a silver-gilt palette4 ,for a boy1 and he was nothing more1 this was a considerable triumph1 but it had been led up to by much startling work at ,devizes and ,oxford4 ,when young ,lawrence was ten years old1 ,daines ,barrington 7,gilbert ,white's correspondent7 had referred to him as 8a lad who can copy historical pictures amazingly1 and is likewise an excellent reader of blank verse40 ,from ,devizes the family had gone to ,oxford1 where they lived and thrived upon the proceeds of the boy's pencil4 ,among his sitters were the ,bishops of ,oxford and ,llandaff1 ,earls ,bathurst and ,warwick1 ,countess ,egremont1 and many others4 ,the visitors to the inn at ,bristol and ,devizes had spread his fame1 and ,oxford was such a liberal patron that ,thomas ,lawrence1 senior1 moved to ,bath1 where he took a house at one hundred pounds a year rental as a boarding-house4 ,sitters were expected1 and did not fail4 ,here it was that young ,lawrence painted ,mrs4 ,siddons for the first time1 that ,sir ,henry ,harpur offered to adopt him1 and that ,hoare the painter1 to whom the boy was indebted for many hints1 wanted him to sit for a picture of the youthful ,christ4 ,small wonder that if at the age of seventeen1 after he had taken up oils instead of crayon1 and had copied a certain number of old masters--,rembrandt1 ,reynolds1 ,titian--his thoughts turned to ,london1 the ,mecca of all ,british art pilgrims2 and he wrote to his mother with the unblushing confidence of youth to say1 he 8would risk his reputation for the painting of a head0--the reputation of seventeen years--8with any save ,sir ,joshua40 ,gainsborough1 ,romney1 and ,hoppner were very much in evidence then1 and the challenge would seem an odd one if it had been more than a lad's confidential boast to his mother4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,miss ,,georgina ,,lennox1 ,,afterwards ,,countess ,,bathurst 7,in the collection of ,earl ,bathurst7 ,fine colouring and effective modelling are noticeable qualities in this1 one of the painter's highly successful portraits4 ,here we have a painting that does not suffer from the costume of the sitter and a rather daring but completely fortunate effect in the contrast between the curtain background and the dress4 ,the landscape is1 as usual1 quite conventional and uninspired4 ,so he came to ,london1 entered himself as an ,academy student1 and took apartments in ,leicester ,fields1 a district made popular by ,sir ,joshua4 ,his father was behind him in all this2 and as there was some money in hand1 and a good send-off was necessary1 an exhibition of the boy's work was arranged4 ,to make it still more attractive1 the worthy innkeeper included a collection of stuffed birds recently acquired4 ,between the amateurs of art and ornithology the exhibition fell to the ground2 it was a failure unredeemed4 ,happily the funds were still sufficient to enable young ,lawrence to take a house in ,duke ,street1 ,st4 ,james'1 and a studio in ,jermyn ,street near by4 ,hoare introduced him to ,sir ,joshua1 for whom ,lawrence's admiration was ever whole-hearted4 ,the great painter looked at his work1 and remarked1 8,study nature--study nature40 ,in years to come1 looking at some of the famous early portraits1 he remarked with the rare generosity that was one of his characteristics1 8,this young man has begun at a point of excellence where ,i left off40 ,success did not come with ,lawrence from the provinces2 a few years were to pass before it visited him in ,london and elected to remain associated with his work as long as he lived4 ,he found many friends1 and was much at the house of ,mrs4 ,siddons1 whose portrait as ,zara he had painted four years earlier4 ,her family consisted then of two boys1 ,henry and ,george1 and two daughters1 ,sarah ,martha 7,sally71 then twelve years old1 and ,maria1 aged eight4 ,it was round the lives of these two girls that the strangest romance of ,lawrence's life was to be woven4 ,both ,sally and ,maria were very attractive girls1 with the fragile beauty that suggests early in life a tendency to consumption4 ,john ,kemble1 another firm friend of ,lawrence1 was brother of ,mrs4 ,siddons4 ,the first three years that the artist spent in ,london were not associated with any striking successes1 but in #agij a portrait of the ,queen and ,princess ,amelia attracted considerable attention1 and pleased ,king ,george ,,iii41 who liked ,british artists best if they had not studied abroad4 ,the royal patronage came at the right time4 ,already ,lawrence was beginning to experience the financial difficulties that never left him as long as he lived1 no matter what his income might be4 ,he was making an allowance of #cjj a year to his parents1 and for the rest1 his earnings 8melted10 says ,allan ,cunningham1 8like snow on a thatch40 ,king ,george was royal in his patronage1 and expressed to the ,royal ,academy his wish that the young artist should be made an ,associate forthwith4 ,to this suggestion there was great opposition1 and in the end the difficulty was solved by making the artist a ,supplementary ,associate1 the only one in the ,academy's history4 ,in #agib great honours were achieved4 ,the ,king appointed ,lawrence to be his painter in ordinary1 in succession to the late ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 passing over ,romney1 ,hoppner1 ,opie1 and others1 whose claims to the honour were held to be greater4 ,nothing succeeds like success1 and the ,dilettanti ,society1 suspending their regulation that said nobody who had not crossed the ,alps could join their brotherhood1 elected ,lawrence and made him one of their chosen painters4 ,he painted full-length portraits of the ,king and ,queen1 to be sent as a present to the ,emperor of ,china1 moved from ,duke ,street to ,bond ,street1 and raised his prices all round1 charging one hundred guineas for full-length portraits1 fifty for half-lengths1 and twenty-five for heads4 ,in #agid he received the full honours of the ,academy2 a year later the poet ,cowper sat to him1 and was so pleased with the portrait that he invited the artist to ,weston4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,miss ,,maria ,,siddons 7,in the ,wallace ,collection7 ,the portrait of the lady with whom the artist was in love1 and to whom he paid his vows1 is a tribute to one side of the painter's art4 ,he has contrived to put far more into it than the mere quality of attractiveness4 ,the constitutional delicacy of the sitter1 her refined and sensitive nature1 are clearly expressed1 and the colour harmony is attractive4 ,soon after this ,lawrence would seem to have had some grave doubt as to whether his gifts were completely expressed through the medium of portraiture4 ,the dramatic sense was very strong in him--portrait-painting could not quite satisfy it4 ,to be 8master of the unlettered nameless faces0 sufficed him no longer1 and he started a series of big canvases that added more to his labours than his fame4 ,staying with his great friend ,fuseli at a house in ,pembrokeshire he saw the artist leaning over some rocks that stand above the ,bay of ,bristol4 ,the pose gave him an idea for a big canvas known as 8,satan10 that was painted in #agig1 found its way to the ,duke of ,norfolk's collection1 and then to the ,academy authorities4 ,a year later he gave ,london its first view of 8,coriolanus in the house of ,aufidius10 and followed this with other classical studies--,hamlet1 ,cato1 and others1 for which ,john ,kemble sat4 ,in the opening days of #agih ,lawrence proposed to ,maria ,siddons1 and the family's consent was given to the union4 ,the engagement was brief4 ,within a few weeks he confessed to ,mrs4 ,siddons that he had mistaken his feelings1 and asked to be allowed to woo ,sally ,siddons instead4 ,to this startling request ,mrs4 ,siddons gave her consent1 but kept the truth back from her husband and brothers4 ,to ,maria the shock was naturally a severe one1 and for a consumptive girl1 whose medical treatment consisted of confinement to the house and repeated bleedings1 it may even have been a contributory cause of death4 ,be this as it may1 and her correspondence shows that she did recover from the first shock1 the truth remains that she passed away in ,october of the same year1 and on her death-bed implored her sister not to marry ,lawrence4 ,in 8,an ,artist's ,love ,story10 to which reference was made in an earlier chapter1 the whole story of the engagement and its tragic dnouement is set out at length4 ,there seems no reason to doubt that ,lawrence would have married ,sally ,siddons had he been able to do so1 when ,maria had passed from the scene1 and that in years to come he was profoundly moved by her death4 ,we know1 too1 that he died a bachelor1 though the opportunities for marriage that came in his way were almost startling in their number2 so it well may be that there were deeper springs of devotion and loyalty in his heart than were expressed by his pen4 ,sally ,siddons died in #ahjc1 when ,lawrence was thirty-four years old1 and had more than a quarter of a century to live4 ,we may then give him the benefit of the doubts that have arisen in the minds of his contemporaries and biographers4 ,some still declare that ,maria ,siddons died of a broken heart1 but the recently published correspondence throws a measure of doubt upon the statement2 and fair-minded people will incline to the belief expressed by ,allan ,cunningham that 8she died of a disease and a doctor40 ,while the social tragedy was affecting his private life1 ,lawrence was making great headway in his profession and out of it4 ,in society he was an established favourite2 he had a handsome face1 a fluent and honeyed tongue1 he wrote agreeable verses1 and made facile sketches1 which he would give freely to his friends and acquaintances4 ,his most intimate associates were ,smirke1 the architect of the ,british ,museum1 ,farrington and ,fuseli the artists1 ,john ,kemble the actor1 and ,mrs4 ,siddons1 whom he painted as ,aspasia as well as ,zara1 though he never approached the beauty of the ,gainsborough ,siddons in our national collection4 ,some of his paintings went to engravers1 who paid big prices for them2 and though after moving from ,bond ,street to ,greek ,street he settled finally at #fe ,russell ,square1 he never entertained on such a scale as his position would have justified4 ,in fact he seldom or never gave a dinner party1 excusing himself on the ground that he had neither wife nor mistress to superintend one4 ,his prices rose steadily2 he took half his fee in advance1 but was always in debt and difficulty1 and frequently forced to borrow at a high rate of interest4 ,a devoted and conscientious worker1 he always stood to his canvas1 and seldom spoke to his sitter4 ,at a first sitting he would draw the sitter's head1 at the second he would start painting4 ,he told friends that on one occasion he worked for thirty-seven hours consecutively1 a marvellous feat for a man who never sat down to paint4 ,in the year #ahja ,lawrence passed through a very critical time4 ,the ,princess of ,wales sat to him at ,montague ,house1 ,blackheath2 he stayed in the house while at work on the portrait1 spoke and wrote in rather indiscreet fashion1 guiltless of everything save enthusiasm1 and provoked a scandal of the first magnitude that alienated royal favour4 ,the scandal grew and spread and was partly the subject of the commission of inquiry that sat several years later1 and whose labours were known as 8,the ,delicate ,investigation40 ,lawrence was not even referred to in the report issued by the commissioners1 but he made a difficult position worse by going out of the way publicly to declare his own and the ,princess's innocence4 ,for some time after the scandal was broached1 the lady visitors to the studio in ,russell ,square were few and far between1 and ,lawrence was never as happy with men as with women4 ,the genius of his brush was essentially feminine4 ,in the years wherein the sun of court favour was withheld1 and fashionable women were less constant in their attention1 he was nevertheless extremely busy1 and was able to raise his prices in #ahjb1 #ahjf1 #ahjh1 and #ahaj1 the last date being the year of ,hoppner's death4 ,his other rivals included ,beecher and ,owen4 ,for one who had comparatively few expenses1 a large income1 and neither parents1 wife1 nor children to support1 the general position should have been very satisfactory1 but nothing seemed able to keep ,lawrence in easy financial circumstances4 ,financial difficulties followed him as they had followed his father before him2 neither his great industry nor his raised prices availed to keep him from all manner of small troubles4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,portrait ,,of ,a ,,lady 7,in the ,wallace ,collection7 ,this portrait of an unknown sitter is as happily posed as it is unhappily dressed4 ,one notices two points of interest--the fine painting of the head and the atmosphere of self-consciousness that is common to so many of the ,lawrence portraits4 ,the early years of the nineteenth century passed without any very stirring events apart from the appointment of the ,commission for the 8,delicate ,investigation40 ,lawrence kept his place1 earned a great deal of money1 spent a great part before he received it1 met some of the greatest men of the day--statesmen1 soldiers1 literati1 ecclesiastics1 and the rest--and was a frequent visitor to country houses where he took part in private theatricals4 ,indeed he may be said to have survived the loss of royal favour very creditably4 ,as the years passed1 subduing all recollection of the scandal associated with ,montague ,house1 ,blackheath1 his name was brought forward again in ,court circles1 where he was greatly missed by the women1 if not by the men4 ,there was no other painter who could combine the portrait with truth and flattery in such exquisite proportions that they conveyed an impression of youth and beauty while stating all essential truths4 ,the truth was well summed up by one of ,sir ,thomas's biographers who wrote3 8,lawrence lavished summer colours upon autumn and on winter1 and gave to declining years the vigour of the life of youth40 ,it had long been an ambition of the painter to visit ,paris1 and when in #ahad the entrance of the allied armies into the ,french capital opened it to travellers1 ,lawrence was prompt to take advantage of the situation4 ,now after many years he hoped to see the famous collection in the ,louvre1 enriched as it had been of late years by the thefts of ,marshal ,soult and others of ,napoleon's generals with a flair for works of art4 ,but before he could complete his work the painter was summoned back to ,london4 ,on the intervention of the first ,marquis of ,londonderry1 the ,prince ,regent had taken the proper and charitable view of the ,montague ,house affair4 ,lawrence was commissioned to paint for ,windsor ,castle a commemoration gallery of those who had restored the ,bourbons4 ,the sitters chosen were the ,emperor of ,russia1 the ,king of ,prussia1 ,blcher1 and ,hetman ,platoff4 ,the portraits were painted1 and at about the same time1 ,wellington and ,metternich sat to the painter4 ,lawrence recovered all the ground he had lost1 and gained fresh honours in rapid succession4 ,in the year of ,waterloo he painted the portrait of the ,prince ,regent1 who knighted him2 in #ahag he painted at ,claremont the portrait of the ,princess ,charlotte4 ,to these years his biographers trace the beginning of his relations with ,mrs4 ,wolfe1 wife of a diplomat accredited to this country4 ,cunningham refers to her as the wife of a ,danish ,consul1 ,mr4 ,knapp says she was the wife of the ,german ,ambassador1 but the point is not worth investigating4 ,suffice it she was a clever1 attractive woman1 separated from her husband1 and the artist seems to have established with her intimate but platonic relations4 ,he was devoted to her1 but1 then1 he had a very susceptible heart4 ,the friendship continued until the death of the lady1 whom the artist survived only a few months4 ,in #ahah a further and greater honour than any that had come his way hitherto was conferred upon ,sir ,thomas4 ,he was sent to ,aix-la-,chapelle to paint members of the ,congress then sitting there1 with instructions to proceed to ,vienna and ,rome4 ,an allowance of one thousand a year for travelling expenses made the commission still more attractive1 and the artist1 free at last to travel and to work in the most stimulating surroundings ,europe could provide1 remained away from ,england for a year and a half4 ,in his work he distinguished himself4 ,his sitters included ,emperor ,francis of ,austria1 ,louis ,,xviii41 ,charles ,x41 ,archduke ,charles1 ,metternich1 ,techernicheff1 ,ouvaroff1 ,hardenberg1 ,nesselrode1 ,baron ,gentz1 ,earl ,bathurst1 ,lord ,liverpool1 the ,marquis of ,londonderry1 the ,duke of ,cambridge1 and ,mr4 ,canning4 ,in ,rome the aged ,pontiff ,pius ,,vii4 gave him nine sittings1 and he painted the portrait of the great ,cardinal ,gonsalvi1 8the ,pitt of ,rome40 ,but it was not only to paint that he went to the ,eternal ,city2 he had much to learn1 and some of the letters he wrote to ,london during his stay are remarkable for their sound judgment and insight4 ,the supreme master of art for him was ,michael ,angelo1 following him ,raphael1 ,correggio1 ,titian1 ,sir ,joshua1 and perhaps ,j4 ,m4 ,w4 ,turner came in the order named4 ,to the end ,lawrence was faithful in his devotion to the art of the first ,president of the ,r4,a4 8,i don't see why ,british artists wish to travel abroad when we have ,sir ,joshua in ,england10 he said in his untravelled days4 ,he was not heard to express this opinion again in the years when he had crossed 8the narrow seas40 ,eighteen months of foreign travel did much for him2 he brought a wider mind and a bigger intelligence home with him2 to say nothing of a collection of gifts from ,european rulers and honours from many academies of art4 ,from the social standpoint it is hard to believe that life could have given more than it gave in #ahah-ai4 ,lawrence was able to visit several ,italian cities1 and returned to ,london at the end of his eighteen months' sojourn in the country1 to find that ,benjamin ,west had just died1 and that he had been elected to succeed him as ,president of the ,royal ,academy4 ,his attitude was dignified4 8,there are10 he said1 8others better qualified to be ,president2 ,i shall1 however1 discharge the duties as well and wisely as ,i can4 ,i shall be true to the ,academy and1 in my intentions1 just and impartial40 ,in giving his consent to ,lawrence's election1 ,king ,george ,,iv4 presented the new ,p4,r4,a4 with a gold chain and medal4 ,king ,george also sat to him1#a and was heard to say that ,lawrence was 8a well-bred gentleman40 #a ,the portrait in the ,wallace ,collection reproduced here4 ,in many respects the ,academy chose wisely4 ,sir ,thomas was a man who had moved and still moved in the highest social circles1 whose pleasant manners made friends and conciliated foes2 he was very popular with all save the most critical of contemporary artists4 ,but1 on the other hand1 he was never a great teacher1 and his addresses to the students were of little worth4 ,he would seem to have entertained the idea of running a studio after the old ,italian fashion2 perhaps he had learned about it in ,rome4 ,there would have been a certain number of student apprentices to prepare the work1 and he would have trained the cleverest among them to do still more4 ,unfortunately there was not enough money to start the required establishment2 not all the foreign travel1 the handsome presents1 and the considerable fees had availed to stem the chronic leakage in the exchequer1 and the scheme came to nothing4 ,sir ,thomas resumed his place in ,london life1 bringing an enhanced reputation2 and all the old scandals being quite forgotten1 the house in ,russell ,square was thronged with fair women who trusted to the artist1 and not in vain1 to make them fairer still4 ,his portrait of ,lady ,blessington1 reproduced here1 called for recognition from ,lord ,byron in the stanzas beginning-- 8,were ,i now as ,i was1 ,i had sung ,what ,lawrence has painted so well40 ,both ,byron and ,sir ,walter ,scott spoke of the social graces of ,sir ,thomas4 ,his manners would seem to have been distinguished1 though his taste1 generally correct1 was not always above suspicion4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,portrait ,,of ,,countess ,,blessington 7,in the ,wallace ,collection7 ,this portrait is one by which the painter is best known1 and is the singularly felicitous expression of a very beautiful woman4 ,it reveals the strength1 and perhaps a little of the weakness1 of the artist1 and made a great sensation when first exhibited in ,london1 moving ,lord ,byron to an expression of praise1 to which brief reference is made in the text4 ,in #ahbe he was called to ,paris1 where he painted ,charles ,x41 the ,dauphin1 and others1 and received the title of ,chevalier of the ,legion of ,honour4 ,the ,academies of ,st4 ,luke in ,rome1 and those of ,florence1 ,venice1 ,bologna1 ,turin1 ,vienna1 and ,copenhagen1 had given him honorary memberships2 the ,fine ,arts ,academy of ,america had done the same1 and there were other bodies that had expressed their sentiments in similar form4 ,as he approached his sixtieth year1 ,sir ,thomas would seem to have become conscious of failing health and the double burden of old age and loneliness4 ,he had acquired every honour within his grasp1 but he had lost his best friends through death1 and monetary worries still troubled him4 ,this last fact is the more surprising1 because his prices were now very high indeed4 ,they ranged from two hundred guineas for a head to seven hundred for an 8extra length portrait10 and even at these high prices there was no lack of patronage4 ,he had no extravagances of a discreditable kind1 but he could not resist the chance of buying a fine drawing1 whether old or new1 and as1 when his collection was sold after his death for twenty thousand pounds1 it was said to have fetched far less than it cost1 one large source of expenditure is accounted for4 ,then again the ,president was a singularly generous man1 who could not refuse an appeal1 and some of those who were round him were quick to take advantage of his weakness4 ,making every allowance for his expenditure as collector and philanthropist1 it is hard to understand why he could earn so much and have so little4 ,even when he painted the portrait of ,sir ,robert ,peel he wrote letters asking for the money before the work was finished4 ,happily the statesman was a good and understanding friend2 not only did he entertain the artist very frequently1 but he commissioned him to paint a gallery of distinguished ,englishmen for his country house--a commission the painter did not live to execute4 ,in the late twenties of the nineteenth century1 ,sir ,thomas discovered a serious state of mind and became a churchman4 ,the death of ,mrs4 ,wolfe1 to whom reference has been made1 in the year #ahbi1 grieved him so deeply that he laid aside his brush for a month4 ,the ,irish ,academy gave him its honorary membership1 and the city of ,bristol1 in which he was born1 gave its freedom1 and these were the last of his honours4 ,those about him noted an ever-increasing feebleness1 a failing interest in life1 though he stuck manfully to his duty1 and early in ,january #ahcj the end came4 ,he was buried in ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral by the side of ,reynolds and ,benjamin ,west4 ,all the ,academicians attended1 scores of the aristocracy sent mourning coaches1 and ,sir ,robert ,peel was among the pall-bearers4 ,,iii ,,the ,,painter',s ,,work ,if in our estimate of a man's work we could pause to consider the difficulties under which the work was accomplished1 there would be much to say for many of those who are lightly esteemed4 ,but in criticism there are no extenuating circumstances2 the artist1 whether he work with words or pigment1 notes or marble1 is judged on his merits with as much justice as is ours to command4 ,no judgment is final4 ,john ,ruskin described a ,whistler nocturne as 8a pot of paint flung in the public's face10 but we value these nocturnes even more highly than ,ruskin's own faultless prose4 ,we know that the critic was better equipped to write than to judge1 and we have reversed his verdict4 ,the history of all art1 from the work of the early ,tuscan and ,umbrian painters1 with their backgrounds of gold1 down to the time of the ,french impressionists1 who bring the wide spaces of air1 sky1 and sea on to their canvas1 is the history of a constantly changing verdict4 ,the men most heartily acclaimed by their contemporaries have often failed in their appeal to succeeding generations1 while in other cases 8the stone that the builder rejected has become the corner head-stone40 ,as far as ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence is concerned1 it is well to remember that his first reputation was not made by artists1 but by people whose acquaintance with the essentials of a great and enduring art is ever of the slightest4 ,his gifts were many and attractive1 but they could never have deceived the men who were his contemporaries1 although ,reynolds' generous criticism might justify the idea that they did4 ,fuseli after declaring that he painted eyes as well as ,titian1 could find no other praise4 ,opie said1 8,lawrence made coxcombs of his sitters1 and his sitters made a coxcomb of ,lawrence10 but then ,opie1 together with ,romney1 ,hoppner1 and others1 had been passed over by ,king ,george ,,iii4 when in #agib he appointed ,lawrence to be his ,painter in ,ordinary1 in place of ,sir ,joshua deceased4 ,compared with his great contemporaries1 we see at once that ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence was by no means a great colourist1 he had no marked skill in composition1 the effect of more than one figure on his canvas is seldom pleasing1 his backgrounds were never interesting or even distinctive4 ,that he was handicapped by the absurd and artificial dress convention of his day is undeniable1 but he was hardly as happy in dealing with it as were some of his contemporaries4 ,why then1 we may ask ourselves1 was ,lawrence a favourite artist from the days when as a little boy he made crayon drawings of visitors to his father's inn1 down to the time when he was sent on a tour of the chief ,european capitals to paint ,kings1 ,kaiser1 and ,pope8 ,why1 while artists remained critical and were even grudging in the measure of justice they meted out to him did all the wealthy patrons of art prefer his studio to that of his contemporaries1 face the heavy and constantly increasing charges without protest1 and rejoice in the possession of the canvas that his brush had covered8 ,the reason is not far to seek4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,king ,,george ,,iv4 7,in the ,wallace ,collection7 ,this portrait1 painted in the last years of the artist's life1 when he was ,president of the ,royal ,academy1 is a notable study1 despite its rather absurd proportions and artificial background4 ,the figure is rather stiffly posed if carefully observed1 the brushwork highly skilled4 ,it was painted when ,sir ,thomas had returned from the ,continent1 after a careful and discriminating study of the ,italian ,masters4 ,lawrence looked upon his sitters with an eye that magnified all points of beauty or attraction and passed over the failings1 the blemishes1 the points that in more conscientious eyes might have made a portrait true rather than merely attractive4 ,it was but necessary to have the beginnings of beauty1 to have some attractive features1 and ,lawrence would go to them instinctively1 they would be the foundation of his study1 other points of less attraction would fade from the representation on canvas4 ,it was his singular gift1 not only to see beauty1 but to pick out the aspects of the sitter that would give the most attractive result possible without absolutely rank flattery or deception4 ,naturally enough when this gift became recognised the artist's studio was thronged by the prettiest women in ,london4 ,whatever their beauty1 ,lawrence would interpret it in terms of the utmost generosity4 ,the charms transferred to canvas to defy the ravages of time were safe to be at least a little in excess of those that existed in the sitter4 ,praise and patronage are notoriously more difficult to fight against than neglect1 and as time went on ,sir ,thomas turned more and more to the task of perfecting prettiness4 ,the female heads do not suffer from this--perhaps they are the better for it--but the male ones do2 in place of strength we find effeminacy1 and many of his men sitters narrowly escaped the charge of being pretty4 ,allan ,cunningham does not hesitate to express his conviction that ,lawrence became weaker and more effeminate of set purpose because he found that by doing so he kept his dangerous rival ,hoppner at bay4 ,this marks the difference between ,reynolds and ,lawrence1 for the first named was strengthened by the rivalry of ,romney2 at least ,lawrence himself thought that some of ,sir ,joshua's finest efforts were produced by ,romney's rivalry4 ,after #ahaj1 when the danger of this competition had passed with ,hoppner's death1 ,lawrence's style was set4 ,france and ,italy came too late to strengthen a man who in so many ways was the spoilt child of fortune4 ,another reason for his weakness may be found in the desire to please4 ,when he painted women he flattered them2 when he talked to them he did the same4 ,his children have a certain self-consciousness that does not belong to the children of ,sir ,joshua and ,gainsborough2 they can't help posing and looking at their best1 for their parents and relatives may have been expected to appreciate a little pose4 ,where men are concerned the strength of ,lawrence lay in the masterful character of the sitters themselves1 rather than in any force of hand or brain4 ,had he been called upon to paint common-place types1 his reputation would hardly have been what it is to-day1 but his sitters were the pick of the generation1 men who played no small part in deciding the fate of ,europe at one of the most critical periods of history4 ,reference has been made already to some of the greatest2 of the others1 he was extremely successful with ,john ,kemble1 ,john ,wilson ,croker1 ,curran1 ,sir ,james ,mackintosh1 and ,lord ,thurlow1 this last portrait being the one at which1 according to his own account1 he laboured for thirty-seven hours without stopping or sitting down4 ,among his most successful portraits of fair women may be mentioned those of the ,duchesses of ,sutherland and ,gloucester1 ,mrs4 ,arbuthnot1 the ,countess of ,charlemont and children1 the ,countess ,grey1 ,lady ,ellenborough1 ,lady ,leinster1 ,lady ,emily ,cowper1 ,lady ,elizabeth ,leveson-,gower1 ,miss ,croker1 and ,lady ,blessington4 ,this is no more than a random selection2 his portraits and drawings of fair women are numbered by the hundred4 ,lawrence was a man who was prompt to take advantage of the opportunities that were showered upon him4 ,one of his critics said of him1 8,his manners please everybody1 save the two or three who look to the grain rather than the varnish40 ,this is very harsh and severe1 for it need have occasioned no surprise had ,lawrence been self-conscious and awkward1 overbearing1 or even pompous4 ,his success might well have turned his head1 and there are indeed occasions when his taste might certainly have been impeached2 but1 all things considered1 he preserved a wonderfully level head1 and in the latter days1 when he was in as much social demand as anybody in ,london1 he remained faithful to his brush--so faithful1 that the work coming from his studio was always his own4 ,he employed no assistants1 though we have seen that he had the idea at one time of keeping something like a school in his own house4 ,in private life he was fairly abstemious1 he had no vices1 nor did any young painter appeal in vain to him for advice or encouragement4 ,unfortunately those who sat at his feet learned the secret of his weakness rather than his strength1 and a study of a man or a woman after ,lawrence is something that defies criticism within the limits of courtesy1 while showing that there was more in ,lawrence himself than the keenest of his critics would always care to admit4 ,his colour was never equal to that of ,reynolds1 but his pictures have faced the time test better2 the secret of the iridescent glaze that the first ,president of the ,r4,a4 could lend to a canvas was apparently unknown to ,lawrence4 ,on his death nearly one hundred canvases were exhibited at the ,british ,institute1 and his popularity may be gauged from the result of the exhibition1 which yielded three thousand pounds1 the money being given to his nieces4 ,his tastes in art were catholic1 and his love of attractive drawings has been referred to4 ,it was said by some that the #bj1jjj the collection yielded was less by far than it had cost1 but this1 as far as the writer can ascertain1 is conjecture4 ,he had drawings of unequal merit1 the best being by ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael1 and these went to ,oxford ,university4 ,his ,italian journey quickened the best side of ,lawrence1 and justifies the regret that he was not able to visit ,italy as a lad4 ,his instinct for good work was quick and true2 he never hesitated for long between the best and the second best1 giving the preference to ,michael ,angelo as soon as he had compared his work in ,rome with that of ,raphael4 ,in the last years of his life he gave up the creamy white of his earlier canvases for a pure white1 taking the hint from the old ,venetian masters1 by whom he was deeply impressed4 ,he exhibited over three hundred portraits1 and painted many that were not for exhibition4 ,to-day he may be seen at his best in ,windsor ,castle1 but ,london claims some of his successful canvases4 ,study and the life of ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence begins and ends on the note of wonder4 ,it is easy to point out his shortcomings1 but it is far more difficult to account for his merits when we remember that he started to earn his family's living before he was seven years old1 and received a public recognition at the age of sixteen for work completed two years before4 ,he had no student life in the true sense of the term1 no painstaking teacher1 only one or two friends to give him hints more or less valuable4 ,his strength lay in accurate draughtsmanship and a wonderfully quick eye for effect1 his weakness in the effeminacy of his handling1 the indifference to minor details of composition1 and the general inferiority of his colour sense to that of his great contemporaries4 ,but from a lad who was self-taught and never ventured to handle colours until he was seventeen1 nothing better could be expected1 and something not as good might well have been pardoned4 ,finally1 it may be suggested that while ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence will never take equal rank with the greatest of his contemporaries1 while ,reynolds1 ,gainsborough1 ,hoppner1 and others will take precedence of him1 his best work will always command a large measure of genuine admiration4 ,it will not fail to attract the attention of the student and the connoisseur1 while his life must be full of interest to those who realise how talents that were not of the highest rank did almost as much for ,lawrence as greater gifts did for ,velazquez1 ,rubens1 ,hans ,holbein the younger1 and others whose brushes were a powerful aid to diplomacy in days past4 ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,london and ,derby ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh