We cannot dwell on particulars, but we must not pass over the honourable commissionwhich he received from King George IV. (then Prince-Regent) to paint the portraits of the sovereigns and the illus trious warriors and statesmen who had been the means of restoring the peace of Europe. He commenced his labour in 1814 with portraits of the King of Prussia, Blucher, and Platoff, who were then in England. In April 1815 the Prince conferred the honour of knighthood upon him In 1818 he proceeded to the Congress of Aix.la-Chapelle, thence to Vienna, and in May 1819 to Rome, where his magnificent portraits of Pope Pius and of Cardinal Gonsalvi were enthusiastically admired. The collection of portraits executed in obedience to this commission is now in the Waterloo Hall at Windsor Castle. "Among so great a number of portraits," says Dr. Wasgen, "alt cannot be equal in merit. I was particularly pleased with those of the Pope, Cardinal Gonsalvi, and the Emperor of Austria. Besides the graceful and unaffected design, the clear and brilliant colouring, which are peculiar to Law. rence, these are distinguished by greater truth of character and a more animated expression than is generally met with in his pictures." The praise here given to Sir Thomas Lawrence is just, but it is not complete : he possessed the happy talent of idealising his forms, without departing from nature or destroying the likeness; but he was very deficient in the higher qualities of portraiture, and it is a great descent to pass from his portraits of eminent statesmen and warriors to those by Vandyck or Reynolds.
In speaking of the portraits of Sir Thomas, his admirable portraits of beautiful children deserve especial notice, the engravings from some of which are universally known. Though Sir Thomas had in his childhood attempted historical compositions which gave ample promise of future excellence, he was so absorbed by portraits that ho had no time to devote any adequate attention to historical painting. Some of his pictures of the Kemble family may indeed be almost considered as historical; and in 1797 he exhibited at Somerset House a picture of ' Satan calling his Legions,' after Milton, which he himself considered as one of his best works, but which, now that the influence of fashion and partisanship has passed away, is generally considered to be a work which displays rather the daring than the greatness of the artist.
While Sir Thomas was absent on the Continent, Mr. West, the venerable president of the Academy, died in March 1820, and Sir Thomas was chosen without opposition to succeed him. He returned in April, loaded with honours and presents which he had received abroad, to meet with equally flattering distinctions at home, which he continued to enjoy without interruption till his death, which• took place at his house in Russell-square, on the 7th of January 1830, in the sixty-first year of his age.
Though Lawrence had no school education, be had acquired a con. siderable fund of various and extensive knowledge : he was even tolerably conversant with the general literature not only of his own country, but of the rest of Europe. His addresses to the students of the Royal Academy were full of good advice, and delivered with a kindness of manner which proved his sincere wishes for their welfare and success. To the merits of his brother artists, whether dead or living, he was ever just, and no feeling of envy or jealousy seems to have ruffled the innate benevolence of his mind. It might have been expected that he could not fail to accumulate a large fortune, but as this was not the case, ever.busy calumny was ready to accuse him of gambling, a vice to which he was so far from being addicted, that ho renounced billiards, in which he greatly excelled, because, as he said, "Though I never played for money, my play attracted much atention, and occasioned many and often very high bets. Next to gambling itself is the vice of encouraging it in others, and as I could not check the betting, I have given up my amusement." Very early drawbacks for the assistance of his family, a style of almost extravagant living at the outset, an utter carelessness of money (as he himself says), exten sive assistance to artists less fortunate than himself, and, above all, the vast expense of procuring that unrivalled collection of drawings by the great masters which was so unhappily dispersed since his death, are sufficient to account for his not growing rich. His portraits are in every collection. As already noticed, his portraits of the statesmen sf Europe are in the Waterloo Gallery at Windsor. Fine portraits by him are iu the National Gallery, three of them, 'John Kemble as IIamlet,' ' Mre. Siddons,' and ' Benjamin West,' being usually regarded as among his best works.