John Constable: Sir Thomas Lawrence

"The 4th Earl of Aberdeen" by Thomas Lawrence

"John Constable, although always on friendly terms, had never been very intimate with Sir Thomas Lawrence, but he felt, in common with every artist in the kingdom, the magnitude of the loss of so eminent a painter, cut off with such apparent suddenness; at a time, too, when he was pursuing his art with all the energy of youth, though in his sixty-fifth year, and when, indeed, so far from betraying any diminution of power, he seemed to be improving on himself. This, I think, was acknowledged by all who had an opportunity of seeing the scarcely-finished, but very fine, portrait of the Earl of Aberdeen in the exhibition at the Academy that followed the death of its President.

When the painting materials of Sir Thomas were sold, Constable purchased a palette which had belonged to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and had been given by him to Sir George Beaumont, who gave it to Lawrence. He presented this interesting relic to the Academy, with its history inscribed on a silver plate inlaid upon it."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Life and Letters of John Constable, R.A." by Charles Robert Leslie.)