The so-called Red Boy, a portrait of the seven-year-old Charles William Lambton, is a meticulously composed image of a confident, assured-looking youth dressed in a fetching crimson velvet outfit and casually lounging on what appears to be a rock. Within the ordered composition, the figure is centrally placed, the expensive clothing and carefully arranged head of curly hair surrounding a thoughtful, pensive face that can be seen as beguiling or sickly sentimental in its portrayal of “innocent” childhood. Despite it being only a single image, it is seen as one of the defining images by the highly accomplished portrait artist Thomas Lawrence, who is regarded as one of the leading portrait painters of his generation in the early decades of the 19th century.
Red Boy, like much of the work of the dazzlingly talented Lawrence, offers an insight into the social, cultural and economic history of the Regency period, where affluence and poverty existed side by side. In capturing the luxurious costume, the stately manner and sheer sense of wealth, while not offering a comprehensive overview of the times, Lawrence gives us a glimpse into a confident, assured society. Until the end of the 19th century Lawrence, like most artists, worked to commission and hence his costly portraits are a reflection of the wealthy people of the time. There are no images here of the poor, the needy or the socially excluded. Lawrence presents a view of the rich and aristocratic able to afford his prices.
Lawrence was something of a childhood prodigy. By the age of 10, he was well known for the pencil profiles which he produced at his father’s inn at Devizes, his confident, delicate draughtsmanship admired by artists and patrons, and he was soon working in pastel before moving on to working in oil paint. Almost entirely self-taught, his success was meteoric. At the age of 20, he was commanded to paint Queen Charlotte and this commission, together with Elizabeth Farren, latter Countess of Derby, was followed by phenomenal success. The stunning portrait of Elizabeth Farren depicts the actress swathed in silks and satins, glancing playfully over her shoulder, set against a rolling landscape.
At the age of 21, he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, a full Royal Academy member a few years later and was subsequently elected its president. With artists such as Joshua Reynolds – an artist greatly admired by Lawrence – dead, it was left to Lawrence to take on the role of leading artist to the aristocracy, fulfilling his role with authority and sensitivity. Lawrence was the last of the great portrait painters in the 18th century tradition, a romantic responding to the glamour of the years through which he lived.
Unusually, following the allied victory over Napoleon, Lawrence was dispatched to Europe as the envoy of the Prince Regent to paint the heads of state and military leaders. With a gift of conveying the life and character of his sitters, the portraits seem alive and vibrant. His portrait of the Duke of Wellington, widely regarded as Britain’s greatest military hero following his victory at the Battle of Waterloo, is portrayed with a steady gaze and folded arms. It is a defining depiction of the “Iron Duke”, but one that is real flesh and blood, described at the time as a “speaking likeness”.
