which is, undoubtedly, the true formation of painting. Reynolds is a remarkable and almost solitary instance of what chiaro-scuro and ingenuity may do to conceal the want of it; but it enabled Lawrence to make out his heads with a surprising minuteness and accuracy of detail, such as perhaps were never before combined with so much breadth and delicacy.

Proofs of these high qualities are to be found, more or less, in almost all his works, beginning with the lovely portrait of Miss Farren down to Lady Londonderry and the Duchess of Richmond. Those of His Majesty George the Fourth, the Pope, Cardinal Gonsalvi, the Emperor of Austria, Duke of Wellington, Duke of Bedford, Sir W. Grant, young Lambton, the children of Mr. Calmady, &c. are among the finest the art ever produced.

A

His talents were by no means confined to painting. nobleman of acknowledged taste, (the late Marquis of Abercorn,) said of him, "He knows only one language, but that he knows better than any other man." When young, he displayed great taste in singing, and so much dramatic power, that Sheridan declared him to be the best amateur actor in the kingdom."*

LAWRENCE AND ETTY.

In early life, Etty tells us that he placed himself under Lawrence. Though he painted in the house of Sir Thomas, he received little or no instruction from him. 66 Still," says Leslie, "the contemplation and copying the works of that eminent man could not but in some degree affect his style; indeed, the Art of Lawrence had so much of fascination in it as to maintain a widely-spread influence over the rising talent of the day, and gradually to undermine till it almost entirely superseded the taste imparted by Reynolds and Gainsborough to higher portraiture.

Of two plays acted at the seat of Lord Abercorn, in which Lawrence performed along with the Hamiltons and Lindsays, he used to give an account, Fuseli said, in the style of a stage manager. It will be enough to say, that he acted the part of Lord Rakeland, in "The Wedding Day," and of Grainger, in " Who's the Dupe?" before the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Devonshire, the Marquis of Abercorn, and Sheridan; was applauded; and imagined he gained rather than lost in the esteem of the great by this exhibition.

"If Etty acquired a tinge of something in the house of Lawrence which he might better have been without, it is greatly to his praise that he came from it a colourist destined to rank with the very best that have lived; for the school of the great portrait-painter was certainly not one of colour. But I believe his first impressions of harmony were derived more from Fuseli, who, even if his pictures did not prove his sensibility to the refinements of colour, had sufficiently shown it in his lectures, and in no sentence more than that in which he tells us he had always 'courted colour as a despairing lover courts a disdainful mistress,' '-a mistress much less disdainful than he imagined."—Leslie's Handbook, p. 305.

CAUSE OF LAWRENCE'S EMBARRASSMENT.

It is a remarkable fact, that Lawrence, whose popularity ought to have made him rich, was actually embarrassed in his circumstances throughout life. Was his money spent in profligate dissipation? No: it is quite clear, as far as a negative can be proved, that he was neither a gambler nor viciously extravagant. That a part of his pecuniary difficulties arose from his generosity as to his relatives must be inferred from his own statements, but not to the degree to be considered the principal, still less, the sole cause, of his embarrassed affairs. If he had been a twentieth part as circumspect in money management as in conversation, and half as cautious to avoid innocent extravagance, he would have been, in spite of his generosity to his family, a rich man. But he was utterly heedless of accounts: he kept his books so imperfectly, as to have omitted a debt of 500 guineas due to him from one of the noblest families in the kingdom; and it is probable that he omitted other sitters, who were not so punctilious as that family in volunteering the payment of the unclaimed debt to the executor. He was munificent in his kindness to his brother artists, and was prodigal to all who applied for his charity; and a vast deal more of his time than was commonly supposed, was spent in gratuitous drawings or paintings, of which he made presents to his friends.-Letter from Mr. T. Campbell; in the Preface to the Life of Lawrence.

Sir Thomas Lawrence, (says Leslie,) was, perhaps, hindered from rising to the highest rank as a colourist by his early and first practice of making portraits in colourless chalk only. His wish to please the sitter made him yield, more than his

English predecessor had done, to the foolish desire of most people to be painted with a smile.

Of indefatigable industry, Lawrence's habit of undertaking too many pictures at the same time was a serious drawback, in many cases, to their excellence. He began the portraits of children which he did not finish till they were grown up; and of gentlemen and ladies while their hair was of its first colour, but which remained incomplete in his rooms till the originals were grey. The most beautiful of his female heads, and beautiful it is, is the one he painted of Lady Elizabeth Leveson Gower (afterwards Marchioness of Westminster). This was begun and finished off-hand; and so was the best male head he ever painted, his first portrait of Mr. West, not the whole-length in the National Gallery, in which he has much exaggerated the stature of the original. He took especial delight in painting the venerable and amiable President, who offered a remarkable instance of the increase of beauty in old age, and of whom this portrait is a work of great excellence.

It is said, that when money was in his pocket, he dealt it freely among all applicants,-whether mendicant artists, or importunate creditors; and that some of the former found, when they opened his sealed envelope, that, instead of the five pounds which they had solicited, they had obtained fifty. To supply this daily drain upon his income, he was driven to become importunate in money matters himself. Having received one moiety of the price for a portrait, he was frequently obliged to apply for the other before the work was done; and his correspondence with Sir Robert Peel, the greatest patron, under a prince, the painter ever had, is chiefly remarkable for the neat way in which he plays the politician about payment, and solicits the price before the completion of the picture.

Haydon relates, in his coarsest manner, of Lawrence, that in 1825, he addressed the Duke of Wellington at the Royal Academy dinner, and appealed to him for aid to build an academy. The Duke rubbed his face with his hand.

"Here was Lawrence owing the Duke 2,000l. nearly, which he had advanced him for a large picture of all his general officers in Spain, and which he had never touched, to the Duke's great anger-here was Lawrence addressing the Duke, both he and the Duke feeling conscious of their private relations, and Lawrence the merest tool of the Academicians,

who had set him on. It is pitiable! I never saw any man who had so subdued a look as Lawrence, as if he was worried out of his senses."

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PORTRAITS OF SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE.

In Mr. Williams's Life of Lawrence, are engraved three portraits by himself, one, when a boy of sixteen, his first attempt in oil; another from a crayon drawing; and the third, in oil. The latter is the picture he was occasionally persuaded to show to his friends, from its concealment beneath his sideboard.

In the collection of the Marquis of Abercorn, at Chesterfield House, South Audley-street, is an unfinished portrait of Sir Thomas Lawrence, by himself.

Sir Thomas once told Mr. West, "the only portrait he ever sat for, was for the character of a soldier in Trumbell's painting of the Siege of Gibraltar."

A person once went to him with an original portrait, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, of Mrs. Piozzi, and which Sir Thomas readily purchased. The bargain concluded, the vendor said "Sir Thomas, I have something in my pocket that will surprise you it is a portrait of yourself" Sir Thomas, indeed, seemed surprised, and begged to see it, when the stranger took from his pocket a frontispiece from the Percy Anecdotes. Lawrence burst out laughing, and saying it was something like, got rid of the person.

In stature, Sir Thomas Lawrence was five feet nine inches high, with handsome limbs, and a body finely proportioned. His appearance was extremely graceful and gentlemanlike. When young, he was an accomplished fencer and dancer. His countenance was open and noble; and his eyes were large and lustrous, and very expressive, insomuch that a lady of taste once said that their light was never tamed down by the gentler emotions, nor the polished suavities of conversation, into harmony with the mild character of his face; the light seemed to kindle still, and he could not put it out. His personal friend, Mr. Baily, the sculptor, was allowed to take a cast of Sir Thomas's fine features after death. His head was finely shaped, and bald he bore a striking resemblance to Mr. Canning, though his face was not of so elevated an expression or character

THE PAINTER'S DAY AND PRACTICE.

Cunningham thus describes Sir Thomas's diligence :-He rose early, and he worked late; for though no one excelled more in rapid sketches, he had a true enthusiasm for his art, and would not dismiss hastily any thing for which he was to be paid as a picture. He detained his sitters often for three hours at a time; had generally eight or nine of these sittings; and all the while studied their looks anxiously, and seemed to do nothing without care and consideration. His constant practice was to begin by making a drawing of the head full size on canvass; carefully tracing in dimensions and expression. This took up one day; on the next he began to paint; touching in the brows, the nose, the eyes, and the mouth, and finally the bounding line in succession. Lawrence sometimes, nay often, laid aside the first drawing of a head, and painted on a copy. This was from his fear of losing the benefit of first impressions, which in such cases are often invaluable. It may be added, that he stood all the while, and was seldom so absorbed in his undertaking, that he did not converse with his sitter, and feel either seriousness or humour, whilst giving thought to the brow, or beauty to the cheek. He adhered to the old rule of receiving half payment at the beginning of a portrait.

The distinguished person who favoured him with forty sittings for his head alone, was Sir Walter Scott. The picture was painted for George the Fourth, and Lawrence was anxious to make the portrait 'the best of any painted from so celebrated a character.

At other times, however, he was as dexterous as any artist. He once told Burnet that he painted the portrait of Curran in one day he came in the morning, remained to dinner, and left at dusk; or, as Lawrence expressed it, quoting his favourite author,

"From morn till noon,

From noon to dewy eve."

The following were his progressive prices: