Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

Eleanor Campbell, New York;

By whose estate sold, New York, Parke-Bernet, 6 April 1960, lot 41;

Where acquired by John and Joanna Bass, New York;

Their sale, New York, Parke-Bernet, 24 October 1962, lot 52;

Where acquired by Mr. and Mrs. Lester Avnet, Long Island, New York;

By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, 23 March 1966, lot 91;

With Jill Newhouse LLC, New York;

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 29 January 2015, lot 381;

Where acquired by the present collector.

R. Gower, Sir Thomas Lawrence, London 1900, p. 117;

G.S. Layard, Sir Thomas Lawrence's Letter-Bag, London 1906, p. 74;

Sir W. Armstrong, Lawrence, London 1913, p. 121;

K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, London 1954, p. 31;

K. Garlick, "A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence," in Walpole Society, 39, 1964, p. 53;

K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence. A complete catalogue of the oil paintings, Oxford 1989, p. 167, cat. no. 182, reproduced.

London, Royal Academy of Art, 1812, no. 108;

Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, 1834, no. 89 (as The Earl and Countess of Charlemont and late Lord Viscount Caulfield).

Lawrence depicts the young Anne Caulfeild (née Bermingham) (d. 1876) with her first child, James. Given the age of the young boy, the picture can be dated to circa 1805.¹ Lady Charlemont was a celebrated beauty—Byron enthused that a portrait bust of her surpassed the famous Medici Venus, and the Prince Regent had a miniature made of her in the guise of the goddess Psyche for his personal collection. Lawrence may have painted Lady Charlemont on another occasion, as a portrait of her was included in a sale of Lawrence's pictures on 15 March 1848, lot 120.

Before 1894 this painting was cut down from its original format, which originally included the figure of Francis William, 2^nd Earl of Charlemont, the husband and father of the sitters here. Caulfeild served as a member of the Irish Parliament, where he acted as representative for Charlemont in the Irish House of Commons in 1798. The surviving fragment portrait of Caulfeild, which shows the gentleman looking tenderly down at his family, is located in the Nationally Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.² 

1. Garlick 1964, p. 53.

2. Oil on canvas, 76 by 61 cm., inv. no. NGI.379. See http://onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie/objects/7936/francis-william-caulfield-2nd-earl-of-charlemont-17751863.