Head of a Lady

Lawrence's Head of a Lady (c. 1800) at the Victoria and Albert Museum is a preparatory study or an independent work capturing a female face with the combination of rapid observation and romantic warmth characteristic of his approach to the female subject. Lawrence made numerous head studies throughout his career, sometimes as preparation for larger portrait commissions and sometimes as independent demonstrations of his ability to capture the essence of a face with the economy of means that distinguished his painterly method. The study's quality of freshness and immediacy — the sense of a face caught in the act of living — exemplifies the romantic spontaneity that made his portraiture so successful.

The study demonstrates Lawrence's virtuoso technique in a small, intimate format. The head is modeled with soft, luminous flesh tones and delicate brushwork, with the unfinished areas revealing the warm ground and preliminary drawing beneath the paint surface.