c. 1824-1825

Portrait of Harriott West (Later Mrs. William Woodgate)

English, 1769 - 1830

Harriott West was continually late for her sittings with Thomas Lawrence, who decided to paint her as he knew her best: cheeks flushed and consulting a pocket watch. The finished portrait was a wedding gift to her husband, William Woodgate of Swaylands. Lawrence was one of the most acclaimed painters of early nineteenth-century England, renowned for his lush application of oil paint. His rapid brushwork and sparkling daubs of white paint convey a sense of freshness and spontaneity—values that were at the heart of the era’s interest in "sensibility," or high emotion. Lawrence typically made multiple close-range sketches of his sitters before beginning a portrait, a practice that adds to the atmosphere of intimacy and directness in his work.