The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of February 6, 2023

Portrait of Charlotte and Sarah Carteret-Hardy

1801

Thomas Lawrence

(British, 1769–1830)

England, early 19th Century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 161 x 135 x 11 cm (63 3/8 x 53 1/8 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 129 x 103 cm (50 13/16 x 40 9/16 in.)

Bequest of John L. Severance 1942.642

Location

203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Fun Fact

Lawrence was a child prodigy and largely self-taught. At the early age of 10, he made accomplished portraits in crayon.

Description


Charlotte (left) and Sarah were 19 and 21, respectively, when this portrait was painted on the occasion of Sarah’s marriage to the topographer Daniel Lysons. The sisters wear fashionable gowns and jewelry, but their affectionate posture conveys a sisterly tenderness that transcends glamour. There was a seemingly insatiable demand for Thomas Lawrence’s portraits representing stylish English society, but he was notoriously slow working. Although this picture was begun in 1801, it still was not finished in 1806 when a friend noted its presence in the artist’s studio.

Provenance
By descent to Daniel L. Lysons, Hempstead Court, Gloucestershire
(Burton, Knowles & Co., Gloucester, 21 April, 1887, no.284)
Camillo Roth (1888)
Charles Crews (sale: Christie's, London, 1 July 1915, no. 105 to Colnaghi)
John L. Severance
By descent to Daniel L. Lysons, Hempstead Court, Gloucestershire (sale: Burton, Knowles & Co, Gloucester, 21 April, 1887, no. 284); Camillo Roth (1888); Charles Crews (sale: Christie's, London, 1 July, 1915, no. 105 to Colnaghi); (Colnaghi, London); John L. Severance
John L. Severance [1863-1936], Cleveland, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1942-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
John Long Severance Art Collection Photographs: Furniture, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. Reproduced: p. 301 archive.org
Catalogue of the John L. Severance Collection: Bequest of John L. Severance, 1936. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1942. Reproduced: p. [19], Plate VII, cat. no. 8; Mention: p. 22, cat. no. 8 archive.org
Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1945. Reproduced: p. 19 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 475 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 160 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 160 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 195 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 198; Mentioned: p. 199
Exhibition history

Exhibition of the John L. Severance Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 12, 1942-March 14, 1943).

Exhibition of the Month: A Portrait of the So-Called 'Column and Curtain' School. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 1-31, 1943).

Sir Thomas Lawrence, Regency Painter. Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA (organizer) (April 27-June 6, 1960).

Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art (October 2-November 19, 1963).

British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.642