Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A.

By descent to the sitter's great-grand-daughter, Miss Mayor, Queen's Gate House, Kingston Hill;
Her sale, London, Christie's, 20 May 1927, lot 33 (5,880 gns to Colnaghi);
With  P & D Colnaghi, London, 1951;
Anonymous Sale ("The Property of a European Private Collector"), New York, Christie's, 7 June 2002, lot 151

Brighton, Brighton Art Gallery, Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA, 1951, no. 9

Country Life, May 1938;
Kenneth Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1954, p. 40;
Kenneth Garlick, 'A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings, and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence', Walpole Society, 1964, vol. XXXIX, p. 96;
Kenneth Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, 1989, p. 200, no. 357

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been quite recently restored. There is one slight scrape in the varnish running through the chinof the sitter. Other than this the painting can be hung as is. The canvas has an older glue lining. Lawrence's typically flamboyant technique is very well preserved and there has been no noticeable abrasion to the paint layer from cleaning, all of which contributes to the fresh and lively appearance of the painting. There is some cracking to the paint layer in the waist of the sitter and in her chest and lower neck which has been carefully retouched. There are a couple of other cracks in the arms, a few spots in the jaw and cheek and in the right wrist and forearm, however the condition is extremely good and any retouches are understandable and minor.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This beautiful portrait dates from 1793, the year of the sitter's marriage and has a freshness and exuberance characteristic of Lawrence's early portraits from the 1790s. It is an image of amazing maturity for a young self-trained artist of only twenty-four who was already painter in Ordinary to the King in succession to Reynolds and was about to be elected a full Academician. As with many of his early works, the portrait also has a powerfully painted landscape background, evidence of Lawrence's ability as a landscape painter.

Selina Peckwell was the daughter of the Reverend Dr. Henry Peckwell (1747-1781) and his wife Bella Blosset of County Meath who came from a good Huguenot family. Her father was a celebrated preacher, who was rector of Bloxham-cum-Digby in Lincolnshire and also minister of the Countess of Huntingdon's chapel in Westminster. Described as "a handsome person and talents ... of superior quality" (Mrs. Grote, The Personal Life of George Grote, 1873, p. 4), he soon attracted Lady Huntingdon's attention. Henry Peckwell died very young leaving Selina and her brother Henry, who took his mother's name of Blosset, and became Chief Justice of Bengal. In 1793 Selina married George Grote of Threadneedle Street and Clay Hill, Beckenham. George Grote's father Andrew had come to London from Bremen in circa 1730 and established the London Bank of Grote, Prescott and Co. Andrew Grote and his wife Charlotte were both painted by Reynolds (his portrait of Charlotte Grote was at Sotheby's London on 9 November 1994).

Described as "of uncommon beauty" and "noted for her gaiety" the sitter took her first name from her godmother Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon. Lady Huntingdon was a celebrated religious evangelist, whose so-called 'connexions' were an attempt to lead the upper classes towards religion. Selina Grote followed her godmother's lead and brought up her eleven children at the family house at Clay Hill on strict principles. Her eldest son, George Grote was born in 1794 and after a career in politics became a very important historian, noted particularly for his History of Greece. He is said to have owed much to his mother's early instruction in the rudiments of Latin. A younger son Arthur, born in 1814, held important offices in Bengal and was president of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1859-62.