Portrait of William Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858)

The 6th Duke of Devonshire, painted by Lawrence in 1824 and now at Castle Howard, was at thirty-four the preeminent aristocratic figure of Regency England — presiding over Chatsworth, Devonshire House, and a collection of estates that constituted one of the largest private landownings in Britain. Known as 'the Bachelor Duke' for his refusal to marry (a private life that Georgiana's earlier marital complexities had perhaps made him wary of emulating), he channeled his considerable energies and fortune into building, collecting, and social entertainment on a legendary scale. His enlargement of Chatsworth, his development of the model village at Edensor, and his acquisition of major Old Master paintings and sculpture made him the most significant private collector and patron in early Victorian England. Castle Howard, where this portrait now resides, was the home of the Howard family — connected to the Devonshires through the complex webs of aristocratic intermarriage — and the portrait's presence there reflects the circulation of major works through the great house collections. Lawrence's fluid brushwork and luminous flesh tones perfectly suited the Duke's famous good looks and the inherited ease of a man for whom enormous wealth was simply the condition of existence rather than a source of anxiety or display.

The portrait presents the Duke with elegant informality, characteristic of Lawrence's approach to aristocratic sitters. The warm palette and fluid brushwork in the rendering of the clothing contrast with the more carefully modeled face.