years tried to regulate his expenditure, to
Lysons the antiquarian, who constructed a
false pedigree for him, to Fuseli and the
Smirkes, to Hamilton, West, Westall, Thomson, Howard, Flaxman, and other artists he
was no doubt attached, but he reserved his
confidence for the ladies, especially married
ladies like Mrs. Wolff and Mrs. Hayman.
The bulk of his published correspondence is
addressed to ladies, to his sister Anne (Mrs.
Bloxam), to Mrs. Boucherette, the daughter-in-law of Mr. Angerstein, to Miss Iiarriet
Lee [q. v.], the author of * The Canterbury
Tales, &c, to Miss Crofts, and to Mrs. Wolff,
the wife of a Danish consul, with whom he
was accused of something more than a platonic flirtation. He painted Mrs. Wolff's
portrait in 1815, and saw much of her while
she lived in London, but for many years
before her death in 1829 she had retired into
Wales, and Lawrence's stilted letters to her
are a sufficient proof of the purity of their
relations. But he was a flirt throughout his
life, always fancying that he was in love
and was causing many flutterings in female
hearts. ' He could not write a common
answer to a dinner invitation without its
assuming the tone of a billet-doux ; the very
commonest conversation was held in that
soft low whisper and with that tone of deference and interest which are so unusual
and so calculated to please.' One lady with
whom he thought himself seriously in love
was Miss Upton, the sister of Lord Templetown, but all his flirtations were innocuous
with one exception. Even his friends could
not defend his conduct towards two daughters of Mrs. Siddons. To them and them
only he proposed marriage, transferring his
affections from one to the other. They were
both delicate and died shortly afterwards, and
Mrs. Siddons, who had been one of the best
of his friends since his childhood, refused to
see him again. He still, however, kept up
his friendship with John Kemble, and Mrs.
Siddons seems to have retained her affection
for him, as she expressed a wish that she
should be carried to the grave by him and her
brother. But Lawrence's death took place
shortly before her own. This sad story is
confirmed by Fanny Kemble, the cousin of
the Misses Siddons, who was herself one of
the latest objects of Lawrence's adoration,
and owns to have felt something of the 'dangerous fascination' of the old flirt.
Lawrence must be acquitted of any intentions dishonourable or unkind. If his character was of no great depth, he was always kind-hearted and generous to his family, his friends, and his servants. Though solicitous for his own advancement in the world, he never disparaged his rivals, young or old, whether Hoppner or Owen, and to young students he was ever ready with advice and commissions, and he allowed them to study his fine collection of drawings. Of Sir Joshua Reynolds he always spoke in terms of great admiration, giving him a position with the great masters Michel Angelo and Titian, and of the genius of Stothard and Flaxman, Turner and Fuseli, and some others of his colleagues, he expressed warm appreciation. He is said to have purchased a large number of Fuseli's drawings, and his study was adorned with busts of his favourite artists, dead and living, by Bailey and Flaxman.
His love of art was strong and genuine, and though his admiration for certain artists, like Fuseli and Domenichino, seems exaggerated to-day, he never missed what was really fine. He was one of the first to perceive the superiority of the Elgin marbles, and his evidence in their favour before the committee of 1816 is a standing testimony to his judgment. His appreciation of Michel Angelo and Raphael was shown by the large sums he spent in the acquisition of the drawings, which are now in the possession of the university of Oxford, and perhaps the most valuable passages in his generally verbose and commonplace letters are those which deal with the comparative merits of these two great artists. He gives the palm to Michel Angelo — a preference scarcely shown in his own works. These were facile, accomplished, original, and in their own style unexcelled. But this style was on a lower level than that of his predecessors, especially Reynolds, Gainsborough, and Romney. He had little insight into character, and was deficient in imagination. In place of these qualities he had an unusually acute perception of the graces of society, for the elegant airs of the men, for the gracious smiles and sparkling eyes of the ladies. Opie said of him, 'Lawrence made coxcombs of his sitters and his sitters made a coxcomb of him.' and Campbell, with truer appreciation, called his own portrait 'lovely,' and added : 'This is the merit of Lawrence's painting — he makes one seem to have got into a drawing-room in the mansions of the blest, and to be looking at oneself in the mirrors.' As a draughtsman, especially of faces and hands, he is scarcely equalled by any English artist, but his pictures have little atmosphere, and his colour, though brilliant and effective, is often hard and glassy. His children are well-dressed, well-mannered, and pretty, but their attitudes are studied and their expressions artificial. His most perfect works are his drawings in
