Paulina, First Wife of Sir Codrington Edmund Carrington

Lawrence's portrait of Paulina, First Wife of Sir Codrington Edmund Carrington, painted around 1806 and at the Victoria and Albert Museum, belongs to his mature period when his female portrait style was at its most psychologically penetrating. Sir Codrington Carrington was a significant figure in British colonial administration — he served as Chief Justice of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) under colonial rule and later had a distinguished legal career in Britain — and the commission for paired portraits reflected the prosperity and social ambition of the professional-imperial class that was enriching itself through colonial service. Lawrence's female portraiture of the 1800s had moved significantly beyond the eighteenth-century tradition he inherited: where Reynolds and Gainsborough had tended toward either classical idealization or atmospheric grace, Lawrence developed an approach that combined these with a distinctly Romantic psychological intensity. Paulina Carrington is observed with the direct, penetrating attention that gives Lawrence's best female portraits their quality of genuine encounter with an individual presence. The V&A's holding connects the portrait to the museum's comprehensive survey of British art, where its place in Lawrence's stylistic development can be assessed alongside examples from different phases of his career.

Lawrence's fluid technique renders the sitter with elegant refinement. The complexion is built up with soft, translucent layers while the white dress is painted with broader strokes and brilliant highlights. The warm, atmospheric background complements the sitter's luminous presence.