Our picture is a study for the portrait of Lady Frances Anne Crewe, (Garlick, no. 222, engraving repr. p. 174), which Lawrence appears to have executed c. 1810 as a pendant to the portrait he made contemporaneously of the sitter’s husband John, 1^st Baron Crewe (Garlick, no. 221). The finished portrait of Lady Crewe remains in the possession of the Crewe family. Lawrence also painted Lady’s Crewe’s daughter in 1809 (Garlick, no. 227) and plans were made to execute a portrait of her father in 1805, though these did not come to fruition (Garlick, no. 351).

Lady Frances Anne Crewe (bap. 1748-1818) was the daughter of Fulke Greville (1717-c.1805), an MP who became envoy extraordinary to the Elector of Bavaria in 1764, and his Irish wife, Frances (née Macartney, c. 1724-1789), an amateur poet and leading socialite. Lady Frances Anne Crewe was considered one of the most beautiful women of her age and, after her marriage to John Crewe (1742 – 1829) on the 4th April, 1766, followed in her mother’s footsteps by becoming one of her generation’s foremost society hostesses.

In addition to the portrait by Lawrence, for which the present picture is a study, Lady Crewe was also painted by Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Three portraits by Reynolds survive (see David Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds. A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, nos. 443-445) and it would appear that a fourth portrait was begun between 1780 and 1784. Reynolds also produced portraits of Lady Crewe’s husband (Mannings, nos. 447 and 448), son (Mannings, no. 449, fig. 1132) and daughters (Mannings, no. 450, fig. 878).

Our study for Lawrence’s portrait of Lady Crewe, which was executed about eight years prior to her death and when the sitter was in her 60s, testifies to that artist’s particular skill in depicting his mature female subjects with great delicacy and sensitivity. Thus, Lady Crewe’s famed beauty, which is so apparent in the earlier portraits of her by Reynolds, is still very much in evidence in Lawrence’s much later portrait, albeit tempered with maturity and gravitas.

Our study of Lady Crewe is of particularly interest and significance because Lawrence usually drew the figure directly onto his canvases before applying the paint, rarely producing separate preliminary sketches. Thus, whilst a number of unfinished portraits are found within his oeuvre, it is comparatively rare to find an extant sketch for a finished picture. Our study of Lady Crewe thus provides a valuable insight into the artist’s working methods.

One of Lawrence’s most important contributions to the field of portraiture was his remarkable ability to infuse his characterizations with vitality and sensibility. The sense of naturalness and unaffectedness within his portraits represented an important new departure within the genre. For all their formality of setting, his sitters appear in the midst of actual life, pausing for a brief interval to allow the artist to capture their likeness. Our study is rendered particularly vital and engaging by virtue of its sketch status and delicately expressive brushwork.