Sir Thomas Lawrence P. R .A.

Known for his magnificent portraits of Britain's most important and wealthy citizens, Sir Thomas Lawrence rarely painted landscapes outside of the passages included in his early portraits. Indeed, there are only two other independent landscapes by the artist known, both now in a private American collection.¹  Like the present painting, these two works depict serene, moonlit landscapes and the handling of the paint is quick and confident; the palette is similar and all three include deer, though the present work includes the narrative element of the hunters shown at lower right. Unlike the present work, these two landscapes are on paper and completed in horizontal formats. 

Garlick dated the two horizontal landscapes to the outset of the artist's career, circa 1790 or soon thereafter. Upon viewing the present work in person in 1993, he dated it to slightly earlier, 1789-90, around the same time as Lawrence's first important commission, the full-length portraits of the 1st Viscount Cremorne and his wife, both of which feature similar landscapes in the backgrounds.² 

1. Study from Nature: The Source of the Manifold at Ilam Park and Study from Nature: A View of Dovedale looking towards Thorpe Cloud, both oil on paper laid on canvas and sold London, Christie's, 18 April 1996, lots 25 and 26. 

2. The portrait of the 1st Viscount Cremorne was with Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York. The portrait of his wife is now at the Tate, see https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/lawrence-philadelphia-hannah-1st-viscountess-cremorne-t05466