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Page 20
There seems to have been bitter feeling between Hoppner, who was an
intense Whig, and Lawrence, who knew no politics, but was all things
to all men. "The ladies of Lawrence show a gaudy dissoluteness of
taste, and sometimes trespass on moral as well as professional
chastity," and "Lawrence shall paint my mistress and Phillips my
wife," were the two rapier phrases Hoppner thrust at his rival. But it
is recorded that thenceforth Lawrence's commissions from fair sitters
multiplied.
Sir Thomas was a finished flatterer. No man ever knew better, except
it was Lely, how to pay the compliment of the brush. This form is the
substantial, the lasting compliment for which golden guineas are
gladly paid. Grace and elegance are the hall-mark of his every
picture. But the artist was a courtier in speech and manners as well,
and this got him into trouble once. He was attentive to the ill-used
Princess Caroline,--markedly attentive! A royal commission inquired
into his conduct, but absolved him from the charges of wrongdoing.
When Lady Grosvenor, who had become Marchioness of Westminster, was an
old lady, in 1881, she wrote in a letter to Lord Leveson Gower her
recollections of the painter: "His manners were what is called
extremely 'polished' (not the fault of the present times). He wore a
large cravat, and had a tinge about him of the time of George IV.,
pervading his general demeanor.... I should not say he was amusing,
but what struck me most, during my two hours sitting in Russell
Square, was the perfection of the drawing of his portraits. Before any
color was put on, the drawing itself was so perfectly beautiful that
it seemed almost a sin to add any color." This portrait of her, which
was painted at this one sitting, is considered the very best Lawrence
ever painted. The head has distinction and hauteur, albeit the face is
sweetly ingenuous. And the eyes! Well, Sir Thomas always excelled
here! Never, since Titian, has painter given us such "strange sweet
maddening eyes,"--
"Fathomless dusk by night, the day lets in
Glimmer of emerald,--thus those eyes of hers!"
This picture now hangs in the gallery of Stafford House, and was
mezzotinted by Cousins, in 1844, and included in the published
collection of the artist's works. This volume is representative of the
artist. It opens with that perennially delightful picture of the
"Calmady Children," called "Nature,"--one of the very best and
sweetest representations of child life ever made. Here is the
elemental artlessness of nature, and here the beatitude of innocence.
Another child-picture is the portrait of Lady Emily Cowper, afterwards
Lady Ashley, called "The Rosebud." Among the ladies shown are Lady
Leicester, Lady Lyndhurst, and Lady Georgiana Agar Ellis, the picture
of the latter being surpassing in its elegance. That majestically
maternal picture is here of Lady Gower and Lady Elizabeth Leveson
Gower,--not our Elizabeth Mary, but she who became Duchess of Argyll.
The Countess of Grosvenor was a lady of high character and most
affable manners, and held her exalted position with a dignity of
demeanor and a bearing worthy of a descent from the noble Gowers,
lords of Sittenham. Her residence latterly was Motcombe House, near
Shaftesbury, Dorsetshire. She lived on until our own day, dying at the
age of ninety-four.
In 1840-41 she accompanied her husband on a yacht voyage in the
Mediterranean, an entertaining account of which she published in two
volumes. She was a keen politician, as so many ladies of rank are in
England. In 1873 Lady Westminster's son, then Lord Robert Grosvenor,
spoke in favor of the Liberal candidate for Shaftesbury. The candidate
told her tenants that he believed her ladyship was not averse to his
candidature. It was putting his fingers into the den of the apparently
sleeping lioness. She wrote sharply: "I beg to undeceive you. I am
most anxious for the success of the conservative cause, connected as
it is with the preservation of our religion and our loyalty to our
Queen."
***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME OLD TIME BEAUTIES***
******* This file should be named 16079-8.txt or 16079-8.zip *******
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/6/0/7/16079
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