Portrait of Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath (1734–1796) in Parliamentary Robes

Thomas Lawrence's portrait of Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath of around 1795, depicting one of England's great landowners whose estate at Longleat represented centuries of Wiltshire aristocratic power, demonstrates Lawrence's early command of grand-manner portraiture before his reputation was fully established. The Marquess's dignified bearing and the formal conventions of the aristocratic portrait are combined with the psychological directness that distinguished Lawrence's work from purely formulaic social documentation even in his early career.

The parliamentary robes provide Lawrence with rich material for his virtuosic brushwork, the crimson velvet and ermine rendered with convincing textures and lustrous highlights. The face is painted with authoritative precision, the overall composition conveying the dignity and tradition of the English peerage.