Exhibition: Thomas Lawrence: Coming of Age

Thomas Lawrence: Coming of Age, an online exhibition supported by a Paul Mellon Centre Curatorial Research Grant awarded to the Holburne Museum, is now available to access for free here.

This is the Holburne Museum’s first virtual exhibition and gives fresh insight into the first twenty-five years of one of Britain’s greatest portrait painters. It includes an introductory film and rarely seen images together with some of his most celebrated works. Through a selection of twenty-five paintings and drawings, the exhibition considers Lawrence’s self-image as a prodigy, the impact of Bath’s artistic, cultural and commercial life on the young artist’s formation, and the rapid development of his painting technique. Particular attention is given to his perceptive portrayals of children and those on the brink of adulthood, as well as Lawrence’s use of social networks, celebrity, the media and the Royal Academy to grow his business and carry his reputation from Devizes to Bath and thence to London.