A Gipsy Girl is a 1794 oil painting by the British artist Thomas Lawrence. It depicts a young woman, who resembles a poacher as much as a gipsy, with a chicken clutched to her chest. An angry farmer is seen in the background.[1] The sitter is sometimes suggested to be Maria Siddons, the daughter of the celebrated actress of Sarah Siddons. Lawrence was involved romantically with both Maria and her elder sister Sally.[2][3]
| A Gipsy Girl | |
|---|---|
_-_A_Gipsy_Girl_-_03-411_-_Royal_Academy_of_Arts.jpg) | |
| Artist | Thomas Lawrence |
| Year | 1794 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, fancy picture |
| Dimensions | 91.5 cm × 71.1 cm (36.0 in × 28.0 in) |
| Location | |
When Lawrence was elected full member of the Royal Academy of Arts a few months before his twenty-fifth birthday he was required to submit a diploma work. As portraitists were not permitted to submit their normal line, Lawrence instead produced this Fancy picture as his submission.[4] It featured at a retrospective of Lawrence's work staged by the British Institution in 1833. It was also displayed at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester in 1857.[5]
References
editBibliography
edit- Albinson, Cassandra, Funnell, Peter & Peltz, Lucy. Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance. Yale University Press, 2010.
- Coltman, Viccy. Henry Raeburn: Context, Reception and Reputation. Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
- Engel, Laura. Women, Performance and the Material of Memory: The Archival Tourist, 1780–1915. : Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
- Pergam, Elizabeth A. The Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition of 1857. Routledge, 2017.
- Postle, Martin. Angels & Urchins: The Fancy Picture in 18th-century British Art. Djanogly Art Gallery, 1998.
- Wright, Amina. Thomas Lawrence: Coming of Age. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.
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