Maria Woodley, Mrs Walter Riddell (1772-1808)

Maria Woodley became Mrs Walter Riddell of Friars' Carse in Dumfriesshire through her marriage in 1790, and it was in this capacity that she entered the orbit of Robert Burns, who found in her a neighbor of remarkable literary culture and social vivacity in the otherwise intellectually limited society of Nithsdale. Burns addressed verses to her, corresponded with her, and recorded in his letters the admiration that occasionally crossed into more complicated emotional territory — their friendship eventually suffered from an incident whose precise nature was disputed but whose aftermath briefly estranged them before reconciliation. Maria Riddell published poetry of her own and, after Burns's death in 1796, a biographical memoir that remains an important primary source for his character. Lawrence's 1805 portrait, now in a National Trust property, depicts her in her early thirties as a woman whose literary life had already given her a significance beyond her social position. The portrait demonstrates Lawrence's ability to capture intelligence and social animation — the qualities that made Riddell memorable to Scotland's greatest poet — within the formal conventions of the female aristocratic portrait.

The portrait combines softness and precision in equal measure. Lawrence's handling of the sitter's hair and shawl employs loose, feathery strokes, while the features are rendered with the detailed observation that gives his best female portraits their sympathetic warmth.