D2009-CMD. Portrait of Sir Wilfred Lawson.

Portrait of Sir Wilfred Lawson (1696-1737)

Date1722-1726 (probably)

Attributed to Hans Hysing (1678-1753)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 50 1/2 x 39 1/2in. (128.3 x 100.3cm) and Framed: 53 x 43 x 2in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1966-210,A&B

DescriptionA three-quarter length portrait of a standing man, his body turned slightly towards the viewer's left, his head towards the viewer's right, and his gaze on the viewer. His proper right arm rests on a plinth, while his proper left hand rests on his hip. He wears a blue coat (of velvet, in appearance) with gold trim; the full sleeves of white shirt are gathered into simpled banded cuffs and displayed through the slits of his lower coat sleeves. He wears a white neck cloth, below which appears the white ruffle of his shirt. He wears a gray wig. To the viewer's right, an archway is shown and, through it, an interior space featuring an ionic column.
The 1 3/4-inch molded, black-painted frame is a modern replacement.
Label TextSir Wilfred Lawson, Groom of the Bedchamber for King George I and 3rd baronet of Isell, was also a member of the British House of Commons. Curiously, his 1718 nomination for membership in the Royal Society was sponsored by none other than Virginia-born William Byrd II. The two likely became acquainted while Byrd was living in London for his formal education.

Byrd once commissioned a portrait of himself from Hans Hysing. That artist also created this portrait of Lawson.

What’s the Connection?
This is one of some 30 portraits that hung at Westover plantation, Byrd’s Virginia home on the James River. Byrd once referred to the works as his “gallery of worthies.”

ProvenanceThe picture descended in the allied Byrd and Harrison families until it was acquired by CWF in 1966. The line of descent is believed to have been:

From William Byrd II (1674-1744) to his son, William Byrd III (1728-1777); to his wife, Mrs. William Byrd III (Mary Willing)(1740-1814); left in her will to her son, Charles Willing Byrd who, however, appears not to have taken possession of the painting but, instead, to have passed it to his sister, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison (nee Evelyn Taylor Byrd)(1766-1817) of Upper Brandon plantation; to her son, William Byrd Harrison (1800-1870); to his daughter, Mrs. Alexander Burton Randall (nee Jane Nicholas Randolph Harrison)(1862-1926); to her son, Burton Harrison Randolph Randall (1893-1971), who was CWF's vendor.