Portrait of Prince Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich (1773-1859)

1800s

A witness in the “Delicate Investigation” into the Princess

The King commissions portraits of his daughter-in-law Caroline, the estranged wife of the Prince of Wales, and of his granddaughter Charlotte; while painting them Lawrence stays at Montagu House, the princess’s residence in Blackheath, and becomes implicated in the “delicate investigation” into Caroline’s morals. He swears an affidavit that although he had sometimes been alone with her the door was never locked or bolted, and, expertly defended by Spencer Perceval, he is exonerated.

1809

A boycott of the Academy exhibition of 1809

Protesting at the way his paintings have been hung, Lawrence skips the Academy exhibition — one of only two he missed between 1787 and 1830; the other, in 1819, he will miss because he is abroad.

1810

The patronage of the Prince Regent

Acquires the generous patronage of the Prince Regent: they met through a sitter, Lord Charles Stewart, whom Lawrence painted in Hussar uniform. The prince commissions portraits of himself and of the allied leaders — Wellington, Blücher and Count Platov, who sit for Lawrence at his new house at 65 Russell Square — and by 1811, when the prince became regent, Lawrence is acknowledged as the country’s foremost portrait painter.