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William Lock of Norbury (1732–1810)
Sir Thomas Lawrence (English, 1769–1830)
1790
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
76.3 x 63.7 cm ( 30 1/16 x 25 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Denman Waldo Ross as a Memorial to Charles G. Loring
Accession Number02.514
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Lawrence was the leading English portraitist at the end of the eighteenth century, in the generation following that of Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. This insightful characterization, painted when Lawrence was only twenty-one, exemplifies the artist's desire to make portraits with a "living, personal existence." According to tradition, the portrait was painted in a single sitting and, although unfinished (the hand is only sketched in), it pleased William Lock so much that he rewarded Lawrence with a payment higher than the agreed upon price.
ProvenanceBy descent from the sitter, William Lock (d. 1810) to his daughter, Amelia Lock (b. 1777 - d. 1848) and her husband, John Angerstein (b. 1773 - d. 1858), Weeting Hall, Norfolk; by descent to their son, William Angerstein (b. 1811 - d. 1897), Weeting Hall; April 6, 1895, Angerstein sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, lot 65, unsold or bought back; July 4, 1896, Angerstein sale, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, lot 114, sold for £220 to Thos. Agnew and Sons, London (stock no. 7736); July 10, 1896, sold by Agnew to Arthur Tooth and Sons, London [see note 1]; 1898, sold by Tooth to Denman Waldo Ross (b. 1853 - d. 1935), Cambridge, MA; 1902, gift of Denman Waldo Ross to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 1, 1902)
NOTES:
[1] Agnew stock books, National Gallery, London, NGA 27/1/1/8 (1891-1898).
NOTES:
[1] Agnew stock books, National Gallery, London, NGA 27/1/1/8 (1891-1898).