The collaction was eventually dispersed in ten exhibitions.
In 1835 the executor finally resolved to cede the collection to the Woodburn merchants, the principal creditor of the painter, for £16,000. Therefore, the executors did not succeed in carrying out Sir Lawrence’s wishes to keep the collection together. A public subscription began, headed by the Royal Academy with £1,000, to acquire the drawings for the National Gallery but it was not taken forward by the Government of the day or by the governing bodies of the British Museum and the National Gallery. Righteously in his last will (dated July 12, 1828) he proudly claimed his collection to be ‘in number and value unequalled in Europe’.Īfter Sir Lawrence’s death in 1830, a proposal was made by the executor of his to the Government to purchase the Lawrence Collection for less than half of its value – £18,000 – with the hope of securing it for the country and preserving it in its entirety. As a result of his incessant collecting, Sir Lawrence amassed a significant number of drawings that rivalled many public and private collections at the time. With the help of antique dealer Samuel Woodburn, Sir Lawrence built an astonishing collection of drawings by the great masters of the sixteenth and seventeenth century such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Titian, Parmigianino, Rubens and Poussin at an estimated value of £40,000. For many years he devoted himself to acquiring invaluable drawings of the great masters, a passion that took him to the edge of financial ruin.
Printed in 18, and subsequently bound together, this large volume represents a small selection of Sir Thomas Lawrence’s collection of drawings.īesides being the most eminent portrait painter of his time, Sir Thomas Lawrence was distinguished for his fine taste in art, which was especially represented in his collection of drawings of the old masters.
#Dragon magazine 336 series#
The Lawrence Gallery is a series of reproductions of drawings attributed to Raphael and Michelangelo.
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