# Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Conyngham [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [LAWRENCE, Sir Thomas]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 91 x 71 cm ## Commentary Nature is merely the backdrop for this carefully rehearsed performance. Although the lady is just putting the tuning key to her harp, the picture is almost static. The scattered accents of colour, such as red, seem to act as a counterpoint to her balanced pose. The harp and part of the stone socle may be intended as bearers of elegiac atmosphere, but first and foremost they are stabilizing compositional elements. Sentimentality and Neoclassicism are found hand in hand here. A clear and stringent compositional architecture is hidden behind an air of dreamy softness. The concept of the experienced portraitist is cloaked in the guise of chance inspiration. ## Related artworks - [Diana Sturt, Lady Milner]() - [John Fane, Tenth Count of Westmorland]() - [Margaret, Countess of Blessington]() - [Miss Martha Carry]() - [Mr and Mrs John Julius Angerstein \(detail\)]() - [Mr and Mrs John Julius Angerstein]() - [Pope Pius VII]() - [Portrait of Alexander I]() - [Portrait of Anne, Countess of Charlemont and her Son James]() - [Portrait of Canova]() - [Portrait of David Lyon]() - [Portrait of Klemens Wenzel von Metternich]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()