SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, P.R.A. AND HENRY WYATT | THE PROFFERED KISS

Probably the work described in the posthumous sale of Lawrence's studio, London, Christie's, 18 July 1831, lot 77 ("Two children embracing, the heads only, the group made out partly in chalk") and acquired there by Lord Charles Townshend;

With Newhouse Galleries, New York, 1979;

With Noortman & Brod, New York;

Anonymous sale (From a Private Collection), New York, Christie's, 3 June 1987, lot 59;

Private collection, Illinois;

By whom offered, New York, Sotheby's, 9 June 2011, lot 113;

There acquired after the sale for $122,500. 

Lord R.S. Gower, Sir Thomas Lawrence, London 1900, p. 175;

Sir W. Armstrong, Lawrence, London 1913, pp.174, 176, under the list of anonymous oil portraits, Armstrong lists three unfinished portraits of children, including two purchased by Townshend, that were in the 1831 Lawrence sale and notes that "one of these may be connected with "The Proffered Kiss" engraved by G. Doo");

K. Garlick, "A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence," The Walpole Society, vol. 39, Glasgow 1964, p. 210;

K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence: A Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings, Oxford & New York 1989, p. 295, no. 893, reproduced (as whereabouts unknown). 

Engraved:

G.T. Doo, 1836, with an inscription dedicated to Lord Charles Townshend and stating that the work was begun by Lawrence and finished by Wyatt.

Possibly the work exhibited Saint Louis, City Art Museum, July 1935 (The Proffered Kiss, 46 by 36 in., lent by Mrs. J. Johnson).

Known as "The Proffered Kiss," this charming painting exemplifies Lawrence's own vision of the innocence and playfulness of childhood. Perfectly in tune with the tastes of his age, the artist's empathy and understanding of his young sitters set his work apart from the more stilted and formal depictions of children that were produced by earlier generations of British artists. Here, a gallant young boy in a green satin toga, reaches out to embrace and kiss the cheek of a beautiful young girl, who gently and chastely pushes him away. As a subject, it is meant to amuse the viewer as a naive foreshadowing of the vicissitudes of adult courtship and romance.

This image was originally known only from an engraving of 1838 by G.T. Doo. The elaborate inscription that accompanied Doo's print, which was dedicated to Lord Townshend, explained that it was done after a painting begun by Sir Thomas Lawrence and finished by Henry Wyatt. In his 1989 monograph, Kenneth Garlick connects this picture to lot 77 in the 1831 sale of Lawrence's estate. That work, which was one of three unfinished portraits of children in that sale, was purchased by Lord Townshend and was described in the catalogue as follows: "two children embracing, heads only. The group partly made out in chalk."¹ It seems probable that Lord Townshend would have commissioned Wyatt, who was an important and esteemed assistant in Lawrence's studio for several years, to complete the painting in his former master's style. 

Although the provenance of this picture has yet to be definitively traced between the time it left Townshend's collection and its appearance on the market with Newhouse Galleries in 1979, it is possible that it is the same picture that was exhibited at the City Art Museum, Saint Louis, in July 1935, where it was on loan from Mrs. J. Johnson.²

1. Garlick 1989, op. cit. It is important to note that Armstrong (see Literature) lists this work as being lot 71 rather than 77 in that sale.

2.  Ibid.