Georgiana Maria Leicester (1793–1859), Lady de Tabley, as 'Hope'

Lawrence painted Georgiana Maria Leicester, Lady de Tabley, as "Hope" around 1800, casting the sitter in an allegorical role that was fashionable in late Georgian portraiture. Sir John Fleming Leicester, her husband, was one of the most important collectors of contemporary British art — his collection later formed part of the National Gallery's founding nucleus. Now at Tabley House in Cheshire, the painting remains in the country house for which it was commissioned, providing a rare opportunity to see a Lawrence portrait in its original domestic context.

The allegorical treatment gives Lawrence license for a richer, more romantic palette than his standard society portraits, with flowing draperies and an idealized setting. The face, however, retains the specificity of portraiture — this is a real woman inhabiting a classical role rather than an abstract personification.