821 



LAWES, WILLIAM. 



LAWRENCE, SIR THOMAS. 



822 



of the latter, we are much disposed to think that neither was acquainted 

 with the best of his productions. The song in ' Comua ' ' Sweet 

 Echo' inserted by Hawkins, ia a very poor specimen of his genius. 

 Had either of those historians looked carefully into his three books of 

 airs, &c., they could not but have found enough to convince them of 

 his invention aud judgment ; enough to prove that the encomiums of 

 contemporary poets, especially Milton, himself an expert musician, 

 were sincere and deserved. How beautifully in ' Comus ' does the 

 great poet allude to his friend's compositions, where, speaking of him 

 as ' The Attendant Spirit' (a character personated in the masque by 

 the composer himself), he eays 



" Thyrgis ! whose artful strains have oft delay'cl 

 The huddling brook to hear his madrigal, 

 And sweeten'd every musk-rose of the dale." 



And in his thirteenth sonnet, addressed to Lawes, beginning 

 " Harry, whose tuneful and well-mcasur'd song," 



he bears honourable testimony to the moral worth and judgment oi 

 the musician, which, he says, distinguished him " from the throng." 

 The opinion of Waller is not less favourably and strongly expressed ; 

 aud Herrick, in hia ' Hesperides," is almost enthusiastic in praise of the 

 grrat English composer ; for it is a gross mistake to suppose that 

 Lawes adopted the style of tbe Italian music fashionable in his time. 

 In a preface to his first book he defends himself against the charge of 

 imitation ; aud an impartial comparison of his best airs with those of 

 his foreign contemporaries will not only prove him to be an original 

 composer, but that the English in his time, and indeed long after, 

 coulJ boast a school of music peculiarly their own. 



LAWES, WILLIAM, brother of the preceding, was educated under 

 the same master, and for a time also held the situation of gentleman 

 of the chapel. During the civil wars he entered the royalist army, 

 and had the rank of captain ; but with a view to his personal safety, 

 Lord Uerrard made him a commissary. Disdaining however the secu- 

 rity offered, he was killed at the siege of Chester in 1015. The king 

 was so much affected by hia loas, that he expressed his sorrow iu remark- 

 ably stroll:: terms, and even went into mourning for his self-devoted 

 servant William Lawes was an able musician ; he composed much 

 for voice* and instruments, as well as many excellent part-songs, 

 rounds, &c., which are to be found in the publications of the day. In 

 Boyce's 'Collection' ia an anthem of his, which puts him on a level 

 with most of the church composers of hia time. But his chief work is 

 a collection of Psalms for three voices, set to the well-known paraphrase 

 by Sandys. 



LAWHENCE, SIR THOMAS, was born at Bristol, May 4th, 1769. 

 His father had been brought up to the legal profession, which he 

 however never followed. Of a somewhat improvident aud unsettled 

 disposition, he tried various avocations without much success in- any. 

 He had married a beautiful and accomplished young lady, daughter 

 of the Rev. W. Read, vicar of Tenbury ; and he at length obtained, 

 through the interest of an aunt of Mrs. Lawrence, the office of super- 

 visor of excise at Bristol, which he resigned soon after the birth of 

 his son Thomas the youngest of sixteen children, most of whom died 

 in infancy and became landlord of the White- Lion Inn. Not suc- 

 ceeding at Bristol, Mr. Lawrence in 1772 was enabled by his friends 

 to become landlord of the Black Bear at Devizes, where he remained 

 till 1779. This inn was at that time much frequented by the rich and 

 fashionable, who resorted to Bath, and generally stopped at Devizes. 

 It was here that young Lawrence manifested that decided predilection 

 for the art in which he subsequently attained such eminence. He 

 drew striking likenesses with the pencil and pen while a child iu 

 petticoats. He was likewise remarkable for the feeling and taste with 

 which be recited poetry, in which he had been trained by hia father, 

 who never failed to introduce him to his guests, who were delighted 

 both with bis genius and his extraordinary personal beauty. It was 

 in 1775, when he was only six years old, that Mr. (afterwards Lord) 

 Kenyon and his lady had their portraits in profile taken by the infant 

 artist. They were deficient iu force, but the execution is said to have 

 been extremely easy and spirited, and the likenesses accurate. Very 

 oon after this event he was sent to a highly respectable school, kept 

 by Mr. Jones, near Bristol, but he was removed when only eight years 

 old ; and thu was all tbe regular education that he ever had. 



In 1779 Mr. Lawrence failed, and was obliged to leave Devizes, 

 whence he went to Weymouth. In 1782 he settled at Bath, and 

 placed his son for a time as a pupil under Mr. Prince Hoare, a crayon 

 painter, of much taste, fancy, and feeling, from whom young Lawrence 

 acquired that grace, elegance, and spirit, which qualified him to be so 

 pre-eminently the painter of female beauty. At the age of thirteen he 

 received from the Society of Arts the great silver pallet, gilt, with an 

 additional present of five guineas, for a copy in crayons of the ' Trans- 

 figuration.' Sir Thomas frequently declaied that this honour had 

 given a great impulse to his enthusiastic love of the art. Nor did he 

 confine himself to portraits. At tbe age of nine he copied historical 

 pictures in a masterly style, and at the age of ten ventured on original 

 compositions of the highest order, such as ' Christ reproving Peter for 

 denying him,' 'Reuben requesting his Father to let Benjamin go to 

 Egypt, 'Hainan and Mordecai,' &c. 



At length iu 1787 Lawrence's father resolved to bring his son to 



London, and took apartments iu Leicester-square. He was soon 

 introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who Rave him good advice and 

 encouragement, and always received him with kindness. It was iu the 

 same year (1787) that he first exhibited at Somerset House, where 

 seven of hia pictures, all female portraits, were admitted. From that 

 time his fame and his practice rapidly increased, though he had some 

 formidable competitors, one of whom was Hoppner, who was patronised 

 by the Prince of Wales. In 1791 he was chosen Associate of the Royal 

 Academy, or rather, being under the age (twenty-four) fixed by the 

 laws of the institution, he was elected a ' Supplemental Associate,' 

 being the only instance of the kind which has occurred; and his 

 election is said to have been owing to the strongly-expressed wish of 

 George III. In 1792 George III. appointed him to succeed Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds as principal painter in ordinary, and the Dilettanti Society 

 unanimously chose him for their painter. From that time forward 

 every exhibition at Somerset House offered fresh proofs of his talents. 

 Yet theso pictures were but a small portion of those which he 

 executed. 



We cannot dwell on particulars, but we must not pass over the 

 honourable commission which he received from Kiug George IV. (then 

 Priuce-Regent) to paint the portraits of the sovereigns imd the illus- 

 trious warriors and statesmen who had been the means of restoring 

 the peace of Europe. He commenced his labour in 1814 with portraits 

 of the King of Prussia, Blucher, aud Platoff, who were then iu England. 

 In April 1815 the Prince conferred the honour of knighthood upon 

 him. In 1818 he proceeded to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, thence 

 to Vienna, and in May 1819 to Rome, where his magniticout portraits 

 of Pope Pius and of Cardinal Gousalvi were enthusiastically admired. 

 The collection of portraits executed in obedience to this commission 

 is now in the Waterloo Hall at Windsor Castle. ' Among so great a 

 number of portraits," says Dr. Waagen, " all cannot be equal in merit. 

 I was particularly pleaaed with those of the Pope, Cardinal Gonsalvi, 

 and the Emperor of Austria. Besides the graceful aud unaffected 

 design, the clear and brilliant colouring, which are peculiar to Law- 

 rence, these are distinguished by greater truth of character and a more 

 animated expression than is generally met with in his pictures." The 

 praise here given to Sir Thomas Lawrence is just, but it is not complete : 

 he possessed the happy talent of idealising his forms, without departing 

 from nature or destroying the likeness; but he was very deficient 

 in the higher qualities of portraiture, and it is a great descent to pass 

 from his portraits of eminent statesmen arid warriors to those by 

 Vandyck or Reynolds. 



In speaking of the portraits of Sir Thomas, his admirable portraits 

 of beautiful children deserve especial notice, the engravings from some 

 of which are universally known. Though Sir Thomas had in his 

 childhood attempted historical compositions which gave ample promise 

 of future excellence, he was so absorbed by portraits that he had no 

 time to devote any adequate attention to historical painting. Some 

 of his pictures of the Kemble family may indeed be almost considered 

 as historical; and in 1797 he exhibited at Somerset House a picture 

 of ' Satan calling his Legions," after Milton, which he himself considered 

 as one of his beat works, but which, now that the influence of fashion 

 and partisanship has passed away, is generally considered to be a work 

 which displays rather the daring than the greatness of the artist. 



While Sir Thomas was absent on the Continent, Mr. West, the 

 venerable president of the Academy, died iu March 1820, and Sir 

 Thomas was cliosen without opposition to succeed him. He returned 

 in April, loaded with honours and presents which he had received 

 abroad, to meet with equally flattering distinctions at home, which he 

 continued to enjoy without interruption till his death, which took 

 place at his house in Russell-square, on the 7th of January 1830, in 

 the sixty-first year of his age. 



Though Lawrence had no school education, he had acquired a con- 

 siderable fund of various and extensive knowledge : he was even 

 tolerably conversant with the general literature not only of his own 

 country, but of the rest of Europe. His addresses to the students of 

 the Royal Academy were full of good advice, and delivered with a 

 kindness of manner which proved his sincere wishes for their welfare 

 and success. To the merits of his brother artists, whether dead or 

 Living, he was ever just, and no feeling of envy or jealousy seems to 

 bave ruffled the innate benevolence of his mind. It might have been 

 expected that he could not fail to accumulate a large fortune, but as 

 this was not the caae, ever-busy calumny was ready to accuse him of 

 gambling, a vice to which he was so far from being addicted, that he 

 renounced billiards, in which he greatly excelled, because, as he said, 

 " Though I never played for money, my play attracted much atention, 

 and occasioned many and often very high bets. Next to gambling 

 .tself is the vice of encouraging it in others, and as I could not check 

 ;he betting, I have given up my amusement." Very early drawbacks 

 'or the assistance of his family, a style of almost extravagant living at 

 ;he outset, an utter carelessness of money (as he himself nays), exten- 

 sive assistance to artists less fortunate than himself, and, above all, the 

 vast expense of procuring that unrivalled collection of drawings by 

 ;he great masters which was so unhappily dispersed since his death, 

 are sufficient to account for his not grosving rich. His portraits are 

 n every collection. As already noticed, his portraits of the statasmeii 

 of Europe are in the Waterloo Gallery at Windsor. Fine portraits by 

 litn are in the National Gallery, three of them, 'John Kemble aa 



