Thomas Lawranson, Portrait Painter

(fl. 1733-1786)

Portrait Painter

From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913

Said to have been an Irishman, but no particulars of his early life have been found. His name first occurs as exhibiting at the Society of Artists in London in 1762, but he appears to have been working Long before that year, as in 1774 he exhibited a "Portrait painted in the year 1733 by the now living artist." He lived in Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, and exhibited portraits in oil and crayons, together with a few landscapes and miniatures in oil at the Society of Artists from 1762 to 1777. He was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1771. The date of his death is unknown; but it was after 1786, as in that year he painted the portrait of John O'Keeffe, now in the National Portrait Gallery. Amongst his works are:

The King of Denmark. Society of Artists, 1769.

A Summer's Evening; view from the Canal at the top of the Green Park. Society of Artists, 1775.

Greenwich Hospital. Engraved. Perhaps the "Perspective View" exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1774; a large picture 5 ft. 10 in. by 4 ft.

John Quick, actor. [National Portrait Gallery.]

John O'Keeffe. Painted in 1786. [National Portrait Gallery.] Engraved by T. Bragg for frontispiece to O'Keeffe's "Recollections"; by Blackbird for "Bellamy's Picturesque Magazine," 1793; and for "Monthly Mirror," Dec., 1797; also by J. Corner for the "European Magazine."

Portrait of a Lady. Signed and dated 1759. [John Lane, The Bodley Head, Vigo Street, London.]

« John Lawlor | Contents and Search | William Lawranson »

Abbreviations