Maria Woodley, Mrs Walter Riddell (1772-1808)

Thomas Lawrence's portrait of Maria Woodley, Mrs Walter Riddell of 1805 depicts the friend and literary patron of Robert Burns — the woman to whom the poet addressed several of his most interesting letters and poems, their friendship later complicated by social difficulties. Maria Riddell was a significant literary figure in her own right, publishing poetry and a memoir of Burns, and Lawrence's portrait captures the combination of social confidence and intellectual vivacity that made her one of the more interesting women in Scottish literary society of the period.

The portrait combines softness and precision in equal measure. Lawrence's handling of the sitter's hair and shawl employs loose, feathery strokes, while the features are rendered with the detailed observation that gives his best female portraits their sympathetic warmth.