{"id":1318,"date":"2013-02-27T20:24:57","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T01:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=1318"},"modified":"2013-03-14T15:55:46","modified_gmt":"2013-03-14T19:55:46","slug":"lawrences-annoying-paintings-at-the-cleveland-museum-of-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/lawrences-annoying-paintings-at-the-cleveland-museum-of-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawrence’s Annoying Paintings at the Cleveland Museum of Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have nothing against Thomas Lawrence<\/a>, indeed, I like his work, but—good grief!—he could make some annoying paintings. The Cleveland Museum of Art<\/a> has two of the offending paintings hanging side-by-side.<\/p>\n

Lawrence (died 1830) had well-earned success throughout his life. A prodigy, he found success early and later became President of the Royal Academy<\/a>. He was the most fashionable society portraitist of his day, and remains the model for others with such ambitions.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Opens Renovations<\/span><\/a><\/div>

The painting that prompted this post is the “Portrait of Catherine Grey, Lady Manners.”  Manners was her husband’s surname and had nothing to do  with the Lady Manners secondary school<\/a>, which then, as now, had a reputation for inculcating proper manners in its students.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/a>
Portrait of Catherine Grey, Lady Manners by Lawrence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The painting is huge, 12 miles high by 5 miles wide (actually, I exaggerate a little, its size is 100″ x 62″).  Lawrence’s typical manner 🙂 is perfectly suited to his program, which was to finish paintings as quickly as possible and collect the fee. His style is efficient in the extreme. Many of his paintings are filled with economic passages of great charm and artistry, and he holds his own with those artists famous for their efficiency, such as Hals, Velasquez, and Goya.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

When I first examined this painting, I thought Lawrence did not like the sitter because something is plainly off. The huge white expanse of her gown–acres and acres of the stuff– is the merest scrumble of unarticulated plainness, well beyond ‘efficient.’ The gown’s sheer size dominates the painting and draws the viewer’s attention—a bad thing.<\/p>\n

As if that wasn’t enough, Lawrence puts a peacock behind the sitter! Whether or not he has a message for us regarding Miss Manners, the peacock further distracts attention from her, which, perhaps, is just as well. The sitter’s legs appear 12 feet long and the poor woman is clearly about to tumble over and fall on her face.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey<\/span><\/a><\/div>

The final and most incongruous note of all, is the confusing slap-dashery of foliage behind the sitter’s head, painted thickly and with exaggerated bravura–very un-Lawerence-like. The thick, ropey paint contrasts unpleasantly with the rest of the painting, especially the gown. It’s as if Lawrence was deliberately trying to insult the sitter by drawing attention away from her.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t surprised to learn while researching this post that, according to The Peerage,<\/a> Lady Manners refused to pay for the painting.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Staff Exhibition<\/span><\/a><\/div>

The other annoying painting is “Portrait of Charlotte and Sarah Carteret-Hard<\/a>,” which hangs next to Lady Manners.  This painting has none of the obtuseness of the other, and, instead, is full of the charm one expects from Lawrence. This<\/em> white gown is carried off superbly. What is annoying, is the bad condition of the painting itself.  Unlike  Miss Manners which is in perfect condition, large parts of this painting are cracking badly. One suspects it was painted over another painting, perhaps an unfinished one (or another for which the sitter refused to pay). It’s annoying to see an otherwise fine painting suffering so.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio—10\/28\/12<\/span><\/a><\/div>

[The photo is mine but the painting is owned by the Cleveland Museum of Art.]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have nothing against Thomas Lawrence, indeed, I like his work, but—good grief!—he could make some annoying paintings. The Cleveland Museum of Art has two of the offending paintings hanging side-by-side. Lawrence (died 1830) had well-earned success throughout his life. A prodigy, he found success early and later became President of the Royal Academy. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,5,10,6,46,1],"tags":[126],"class_list":["post-1318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-museum","category-artists","category-cleveland","category-paintings","category-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-thomas-lawrence"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7030,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2017\/04\/studio-journal-42217\/","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":0},"title":"Studio journal 4\/22\/17","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"April 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I worked on The Picnic and nothing else for the past few days. The Picnic has a painting surface that is difficult. \u00a0This doesn't happen often anymore but it's annoying when it does happen. \u00a0It slows everything down. \u00a0Luckily, an intermediate varnish solved the problem and things are more to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/studio-2017-4-22.png?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/studio-2017-4-22.png?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/studio-2017-4-22.png?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/studio-2017-4-22.png?fit=800%2C531&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1052,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/gaertner-at-the-cleveland-museum-of-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":1},"title":"Gaertner at the Cleveland Museum of Art","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm an idiot, but you already knew that. After writing about discovering Frederick Gaertner in this post, I belatedly realized I had seen--on numerous\u00a0occasions, no less--one of his paintings at the Cleveland Museum of Art. \u00a0For some reason, I never connected that Gaertner with my Gaertner discovered at the Bonfoey\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Furnace by Gaertner ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2161,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/why-do-you-visit-the-museum-so-often\/","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":2},"title":"“Why?” (do you visit the museum so often)","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"June 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A professional from\u00a0Guadalajara visiting Cleveland for the first time was enthusing about the city's many attractions, especially the art museum. \"It's magnificent--world class,\" she exclaimed! \"The Rubens, the Velasquez, the Goya...,\"\u00a0 she rattled-off several more masterpieces she'd seen. \"I know,\" I nodded, \"I visit the museum every week.\" \"Every week?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"poussin","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/poussin.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14189,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2026\/03\/surprises-at-the-cleveland-museum-of-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":3},"title":"Surprises at the Cleveland Museum of Art","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 31, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The first surprise was learning that Tuesday is Senior Day at the museum. 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The second surprise was discovering that the recently opened Manet-Morisot exhibition is a magnet for the Boomers I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1962.37_web.jpg?fit=1180%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1962.37_web.jpg?fit=1180%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1962.37_web.jpg?fit=1180%2C893&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1962.37_web.jpg?fit=1180%2C893&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1962.37_web.jpg?fit=1180%2C893&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4784,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/03\/mountain-retreat\/","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":4},"title":"Mountain Retreat","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The beautiful painting Clouds Visiting a Mountain Retreat is currently on view at the Cleveland Art Museum. The museum regularly rotates its vast Asian collection, and new works (new to me) are frequently to be found. The cloud-swathed mountain dominates the landscape; the travellers in the lower-left are easily overlooked.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Clouds Visiting a Mountain Retreat, 1633, T. Hong","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/t_hong.jpg?fit=351%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9714,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2021\/07\/clevelands-van-goyen\/","url_meta":{"origin":1318,"position":5},"title":"Cleveland’s van Goyen","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"July 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"My next video about painter's paintings is on van Goyen's painting titled View of Emmerich in the Cleveland Museum of Art. 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