Maternal Affection

Executed in black pencil with highlighting touches of red chalk, this portrait shows a Regency mother and daughter in an outdoor landscape. Both figures wear empire-line dresses in white muslin with narrow sleeves, and sashed waists, the mother’s accessorised with coral beads and a straw poke bonnet trimmed with a jaunty ostrich feather.

Attributed to the talented draughtsman George Henry Harlow (1787-1819) working in the style of Sir Thomas Lawrence and presented in a handsome ogee style bird’s eye maple frame with a deep gilt slip (some gapping to the frame joints and small losses with some tarnishing to the slip).

Having displayed an early talent for painting, George Henry Harlow joined Sir Thomas Lawrence’s studio when just fifteen years old and was henceforth greatly influenced by his style. Harlow dressed ostentatiously earning him the nickname ‘Clarissa Harlow’. He subsequently spent time in Rome where he was befriended by Canova. Harlow exhibited from 1804 but his career was cut short by his premature death in 1829 from mumps.