A Child

Lawrence painted A Child around 1800, a portrait of an unidentified infant that demonstrates his tender treatment of very young subjects. Lawrence's infant portraits were prized for their naturalism — he captured the soft features and unfocused gaze of very young children with an accuracy that distinguished his work from the more idealized treatment common in eighteenth-century portraiture. Now in the National Museum Cardiff, the painting represents the Welsh national collection's holdings of British portraiture.

Lawrence's tender handling of the child's soft features demonstrates his particular sensitivity to young sitters. The rosy cheeks and bright, inquisitive eyes are rendered with minimal but perfectly placed brushstrokes, the background left deliberately sketchy to focus all attention on the child's face.