Portrait of Mrs Isaac Cuthbert

Lawrence painted Mrs. Isaac Cuthbert around 1817, producing a society portrait now in the Louvre. The painting entered French collections through the Lacaze bequest, which brought numerous British portraits into the Louvre. Lawrence's treatment demonstrates his mature style — the sitter's personality is conveyed through a composition of apparent simplicity that conceals considerable technical sophistication. The warm palette and confident brushwork exemplify the qualities that made Lawrence the most sought-after portrait painter in Europe during the second and third decades of the nineteenth century.

A warm golden light suffuses the composition, characteristic of Lawrence's mature portraits of women. The handling of fabric — likely silk or satin — shows his mastery of reflective surfaces, with highlights laid in with quick, confident strokes over darker underpaint.