Portrait of Frederick H. Hemming

Frederick H. Hemming sat for Lawrence in 1824, the same year as his wife Mary Anne Bloxam. The Kimbell Art Museum holds both companion portraits, which together represent one of Lawrence's most accomplished late domestic commissions. Hemming was a prosperous figure in London's professional classes. As President of the Royal Academy from 1820, Lawrence occupied the summit of the British art establishment, and his portraits from this period combine technical command with the psychological penetrat

The portrait demonstrates Lawrence's gift for investing even relatively modest sitters with an air of natural distinction. Warm ochres and umbers dominate the palette, with the face emerging from shadow into light through carefully controlled tonal gradations.