Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, later first Earl Granville
Date:
between 1804 and 1809
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
92 1/2 x 51 1/2 inches (235 x 130.8 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.736
Gallery Label:
Thomas Lawrence was a child prodigy and largely selftaught as a painter. By 1789 he had established himself as heir to Joshua Reynolds in the tradition of grand manner portrait painting and was appointed Painter in Ordinary to King George III when Reynolds died in 1792. Lawrence was, however, notoriously slow at painting, often taking on too many portrait commissions in a bid to pay off his extensive debts. This full-length of Lord Granville LevesonGower was begun in 1804 but remained unfinished in 1809, causing the sitter’s mother to berate Lawrence for his “sad illiberal way of going on.” Lawrence’s work was, however, highly esteemed across Europe, especially in France where his bravura style and rich coloring were emulated by the younger romantics such as Eugène Delacroix, who visited Lawrence in London in 1825. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016