Publish by Gazette Drouot International

A luminous palette, original framing, spontaneous attitudes... there is no shortage of assets in this portrait of the Countess of Westmorland with her family by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

The third daughter of the fourth Earl of Mornington and Katharine Elizabeth Forbes, Priscilla Anne Wellesley-Pole (1793-1879) married John Fane, Lord Burghersh, tenth Earl of Westmorland, in 1811. They had one daughter and five sons, including George Fane (1819-1848), shown here in his mother's arms. The models' rosy cheeks echo the cord of the young woman's bonnet, from which natural curls emerge, the red of some of the flowers on it matching the fabric from which the models are standing out. Mother and child share deep blue eyes, delicate features and pale complexions. An accomplished linguist and renowned portrait painter, the Countess of Westmorland sent several portraits to the Royal Society of British Artists between 1833 and 1841. The artist of our painting, Sir Thomas Lawrence, was the immediate successor to Reynolds and Gainsborough, the most important portrait painter of the English Regency (1811-1820) and the reign of George IV (1820-1830), and a worthy heir to a tradition begun in the 17th century by Van Dyck [...]
A sale by Tessier & Sarrou et Associés on Friday 21 June at Hôtel Drouot