Lot Essay
The importance of this picture in the context of Lawrence's oeuvre is considered in the previous catalogue entry. It is perhaps significant that this, by nineteenth-century standards, the more 'complete' of the two compositions, was copied at an early date. The copy in question is now at Tabley House, Cheshire, University of Manchester (Catalogue of Pictures at Tabley House, 1899, no. 8; Garlick, 1964, as a repetition; 1993, p. 17, fig. 3 as a copy).
Dr. Garlick considers it possible that the figures and animals in this picture are by Stothard - who was stated in the Christie's 1861 catalogue to have assisted Lawrence with both pictures: he observes that 'it may well be that on [Lawrences's] return [to London] he employed Stothard to complete [the picture] and put in the animals and figures' (Garlick, 1993, p.16). Whether the younger painter would have been in a position to employ Stothard, who became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, is uncertain and it may be that the reference to Stothard represents no more than a confused memory of the latter painter's recorded visit to Ilam in 1825, long after the present pictures were executed.
Dr. Garlick considers it possible that the figures and animals in this picture are by Stothard - who was stated in the Christie's 1861 catalogue to have assisted Lawrence with both pictures: he observes that 'it may well be that on [Lawrences's] return [to London] he employed Stothard to complete [the picture] and put in the animals and figures' (Garlick, 1993, p.16). Whether the younger painter would have been in a position to employ Stothard, who became an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1791, is uncertain and it may be that the reference to Stothard represents no more than a confused memory of the latter painter's recorded visit to Ilam in 1825, long after the present pictures were executed.