Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

Sir James Knowles (1831 - 1908), London, by 1868;

His estate sale, London, Christie's, 27 - 29 May 1908, lot 406;

With Frost and Reed Ltd., London;

Mrs. Louis A. Witzeman, Akron, Ohio, by 1946;

By whom gifted to Richard Walton Edwards Jr., Washington, D.C., by 1966;

By whose estate anonymously sold, Detroit, Dumouchelles, 17 December 2021, lot 1002;

Where acquired by the present owner.

K. Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence: a complete catalogue of his oil paintings, New York 1989, p. 291, cat. no. 867, reproduced.

Leeds, National Exhibition of Works of Art, 1868, no. 2770;

London, Grafton Gallery, Fair Children, 1895, no. 341;

London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, 4 January - 12 March 1904, no. 156.

Sir Thomas Lawrence’s oil sketches provide a fascinating insight into his working methods as he began a new portrait commission. A master draughtsman, he maintained his belief “that the picture, whatever it is, be first accurately drawn on the canvas.”¹  Here we see a charming young boy, head turned but looking directly out at the viewer, a smile on his face. Lawrence has built up details in his expression but left much of the canvas bare, with a number of markings on the right where he must have wiped his brush. The energy of the brushwork brings great life to the young boy, whose identity unfortunately remains elusive; though the provenance goes back to the 19th century, the painting was always exhibited simply as "Head of a Child." When Lawrence died in 1830, some 200 unfinished portraits were found in his Russell Square house, a few dating as far back as the 1790s. 

1. In a letter of circa 1790 to Lord Malden; see M. Levey, Sir Thomas Lawrence, New Haven & London 2005, pp. 2, 320, note 6.