Lawrence, Sir Thomas (1769-1830), an English artist, was one of the most successful portrait painters of his time. He succeeded the famous portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1792 as painter to King George III of England. Lawrence was noted for the technical brilliance of his brushwork and his romantic approach to his subjects. Those subjects included royalty and many of the European political and religious leaders of his time.
Lawrence was born on April 13, 1769, in Bristol, England. He was a largely self-taught artist. At the age of 12, he had his own studio, and at 18 briefly studied at the Royal Academy of Arts, an association of artists in London. He was elected a Royal Academician—that is, a member of the Royal Academy—in 1794, knighted in 1815, and made president of the Royal Academy in 1820. Lawrence was a prominent art collector who assembled an outstanding collection of drawings by such Italian Renaissance masters as Michelangelo and Raphael. He also helped assemble the collection that formed the nucleus of the National Gallery in London. Lawrence died on Jan. 7, 1830.
