Portrait of Eleanor, Lady Wigram

Sir Thomas Lawrence was a highly esteemed portraitist who began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in London soon after moving there in 1787. His works were both naturalistic and flattering, and the artist quickly became a favorite of the upper classes in Britain. Lawrence was painter to both George III and the Prince Regent, the future George IV, exhibiting his first portrait of the latter in 1815, the year both the AMAM works (AMAM 1986.17 & 2010.14) were likely begun.

Lady Wigram (1767-1841) is shown wearing a black velvet gown, white ruff and Indian shawl with paisley decoration; an ermine robe that attests to her wealth is folded over the sofa. Her costume alludes, in part, to her husband's business interests in the East Indies, as shawls such as hers were imported from Kashmir, while the gown and ruff were fashionably "Elizabethan" at the time, reflecting British patriotism after Napoleon's defeat in 1815. Her affable expression and calm demeanor conform with what is known of her life; she bore her husband seventeen children (he had six already from his first wife) and she was well known as "Lady Bountiful" in Walthamstow, Essex, for her philanthropic activities, organizing coeducational schools and medical clinics, and founding a local library. The portrait was exhibited at London's Royal Academy in 1816.