Maria II, Queen of Portugal (1819-1853)

Lawrence painted Queen Maria II of Portugal in 1829, depicting the young queen who had been placed on the Portuguese throne as a child after the liberal revolution deposed her grandfather. Maria was only ten years old at the time of this portrait, yet she already bore the weight of Portugal's dynastic conflicts between liberal and absolutist factions. Lawrence's portrait conveys both the child's vulnerability and the dignity required of a reigning queen, a balance he achieved with characteristic sensitivity. Now in the Royal Collection, the portrait documents the precarious position of child monarchs in the turbulent European politics of the post-Napoleonic era.

Lawrence brings his gift for painting children to bear on this royal portrait, balancing the formality required by the sitter's rank with the naturalness appropriate to her age. The young queen's features are rendered with warm tenderness, while her bearing already shows the regal dignity that her position demanded.