Provenance
Probably Sir George Robinson, 5th Bt. [1730-1815], Cranford Hall, Northamptonshire; by descent to Sir Frederick Robinson, 10th Bt.;[1] sold to (Arthur J. Sulley & Co., London); purchased 12 September 1913 by Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park, 1942; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] Additional baronets Robinson listed in the former owner table in the NGA collection database are per The Getty Provenance Index, and NGA curatorial files.
Accession Number
1942.9.37
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 127 x 101.5 cm (50 x 39 15/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Widener Collection
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Canvas British
Background & Context
Background Story
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) was the leading English portrait painter of the Regency period, known for the elegant, fluent manner and Romantic coloring that distinguish his best portraiture. Mrs. Robert Blencowe from c. 1792 depicts the sitter in the elegant, fluent manner that Lawrence was developing in the early 1790s, before the full flowering of his Regency manner in the 1800s and 1810s. The c. 1792 date places this in Lawrence's early maturity, when he was producing the portraits that established him as the heir to Reynolds and Gainsborough in English portraiture.
Cultural Impact
Mrs. Robert Blencowe is important in Lawrence's early development because it demonstrates the elegant, fluent manner that he was developing in the early 1790s before the full flowering of his Regency manner. The c. 1792 portrait shows Lawrence developing the Romantic coloring and fluent brushwork that would make him the leading English portrait painter of the Regency period, inheriting the mantle of Reynolds and Gainsborough.
Why It Matters
Mrs. Robert Blencowe is Lawrence's early Regency manner developing: the sitter rendered with the elegant fluency and Romantic coloring that would make him the leading English portrait painter of the Regency period. The c. 1792 portrait shows Lawrence developing the manner that would inherit the mantle of Reynolds and Gainsborough.
