Portrait of Count Semyon Vorontsov (1744-1832)

1798

Death of Maria Siddons and her sister’s promise

Maria Siddons, daughter of the actress Sarah Siddons, dies: Lawrence had loved her sister Sally first, then Maria, and after breaking with Maria had turned to Sally again. On her deathbed Maria extracts a promise from her sister never to marry him; Sally keeps it, refuses to see Lawrence again and dies in 1803, while he never marries, staying on friendly terms with their mother and painting several portraits of her.

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.

from 1802

The studio: assistants for replicas of his portraits

To keep up with the demand for replicas of his portraits, Lawrence employs studio assistants: Samuel Lane works for him from 1802 until the master’s death, and the assistants also include William Etty and George Henry Harlow.