PLATE I.—MASTER LAMBTON. Frontispiece
(In the collection of the Earl of Durham)

In painting this portrait (for which he is said to have received £600) Lawrence was happy in his sitter. The child has good looks and a very intelligent face, but unfortunately he is over-posed. One misses the simplicity, the natural attitude, the spontaneous gesture, found in portraits of children by Sir Joshua, and feels that although Lawrence made an attractive picture, his sitter has been made too self-conscious for childhood.