Friday Fop

The Regency was known as a raucous era, one at which the Victorians looked askance. This Thomas Lawrence portrait of John Lord Mountstuart of Bute is quite revealing in a way that the modern viewer will find startling. Frequent Jane Austen Today contributer, Tony Grant, hinted at the  unabashed display of his male prowess in a post he wrote for Jane Austen's World, as does Blake Gopnik in The Daily Beast:

John Lord Mountstuart of Bute

I don’t count myself a sex-obsessed Freudian, but one of the more notable features of many of Lawrence’s portraits is the cling of his male sitter’s breeches, and how revealing of all things masculine they are – as was noted even when said portraits were painted. - Buy This Man Some Underarmour

A Persuasive Resemblance: Mrs. Croft and the Countess of Glengall

I found the resemblance uncanny.

Countess of Glengall, 1804, detail, by Sir Thomas Lawrence

Fiona Shawl, actress could be the direct descendant of The Countess of Glengall, 1804 (painted by Thomas Lawrence)

Fiona Shaw. Image @Naxos Audio Books

Jane Austen fans will recognize Fiona as Mrs. Croft, the admiral's sensible lady. Mrs. Croft childless state inspired one of Jane Austen's more caustic remark: "A lady, without a family, was the very best preserver of furniture in the world."

Mrs. Croft (Fiona) and Anne Elliot (Amanda Root) in Persuasion 1995

The image of the Countess of Glengall is currently being shown in the Thomas Lawrence exhibit, Regency Power and Brilliance, at Yale Center for British Art.

Thomas Lawrence Makes a Splash at the National Portrait Gallery

The Duke of Wellington

Two articles, one by the Telegraph and one from The Arts Desk describe the new Thomas Lawrence exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in London in some detail. Thomas Lawrence painted the portraits of the movers and shakers of his era, including Pope Pius VII, Queen Charlotte, the Duke of Wellington, Sir Humprhey Davy, Princess Caroline of Brunswick, the Prince of Wales and other dignitaries familiar to Jane Austen and people who lived in her day.

My only caution to you in reading the two articles is that both reporters/art historians spout off their opinions in describing Lawrence's works that counter my own reaction to his paintings. My philosophy is that the appreciation of art is quite a personal matter, and I urge you to believe your own eyes over someone else's verbal regurgitations.

Queen Charlotte, consort of George III

Exhibit: National Portrait Gallery, London. October 21 - January 23. In addition, read Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance, a review by Richard Holmes in The Guardian, which includes extensive biographical information about the painter.

The lady and the artist

For some reason, this breathtaking image of Mrs. Jens Wolff, 1803-1815, by Sir Thomas Lawrence has me mesmerized. It turns out, she and the artist's sister were friends, and she corresponded regularly with Sir Thomas until her death in 1829. Find out more about her relationship with the artist in the Life and Correspondence of Sir Thomas Lawrence, by D.E.Williams. The original text can be found on Google book search.