Mrs. Robert Blencowe, c. 1792

Not on View

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 127 x 101.5 cm (50 x 39 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Widener Collection

Accession Number

1942.9.37

Artists / Makers

Sir Thomas Lawrence (artist) British, 1769 - 1830

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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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.

Associated Names

Robinson, 10th Bt., Frederick Villiers Laud, Sir
Robinson, 5th Bt., George, Sir
Robinson, 6th Bt., George, Sir
Robinson, 7th Bt., George Stamp, Rev. Sir
Robinson, 8th Bt., John Blencowe, Sir
Robinson, 9th Bt., Frederick Laud, Sir
Sulley & Co., Arthur J.
Widener, Joseph E.
Widener, Peter Arrell Brown

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is twill woven; it has been lined. The ground is white, of moderate thickness. The painting is executed thinly and fluidly, blended wet into wet, with sweeping brushwork (the foliage at upper right has been worked with a palette knife), except in the flesh, where the handling is more restrained; the whites and the yellow of the sash are more thickly painted in dry, dragged brushstrokes, with a low impasto. There is extensive traction crackle, due to the presence of a high proportion of medium, much of which has been retouched. Apart from this the painting appears to be in good condition. The paint surface seems not to be abraded or to have suffered loss, although there is retouching in the lips and right nostril, where small strokes of brilliant red have been added; the paint surface has been slightly flattened during lining. The thick natural resin varnish, pigmented with black, has discolored yellow to a significant degree.

Bibliography

1915: Roberts, William. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: British and Modern French Schools, Philadelphia, 1915: unpaginated, repro., as Portrait of Lady Robinson.

1923: Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro., as Portrait of Lady Robinson.

1931: Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 186, repro.

1948: Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 89, repro., as Lady Robinson.

1954: Garlick, Kenneth. Sir Thomas Lawrence. London, 1954: 28.

1964: Garlick, Kenneth. "A Catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings and Pastels of Sir Thomas Lawrence." The Walpole Society 39 (1964): 169.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 73, as Lady Robinson.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 64, repro., as Lady Robinson.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 190, repro., as Lady Robinson.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 222, repro., as Lady Robinson.

1992: Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 154-156, repro. 154.