Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A (Bristol 1769-1830 London)

Viscountess Pollington was the eldest daughter of the politician Philip Yorke, 3rd Earl of Hardwicke (1757-1834), who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1801) and served as the first Viceroy in post-union Ireland, and the great-granddaughter of the politician Philip, 1st Earl of Hardwicke (1690-1764), who served as Lord Chancellor from 1737 to 1756. She married John Savile, Viscount Pollington, later 3rd Earl of Mexborough, in 1807. Her husband was also involved in politics, representing Pontefract in parliament (1807-26; and 1831-2). In this portrait she is shown with her eldest son John, Viscount Pollington, who succeeded his father as the 4th Earl of Mexborough in 1860. Garlick noted that 'Lawrence's procrastination in completing his commissioned works was notorious' and that 'Lord Pollington is quoted by Augustus Hare [op. cit.] as complaining that the baby in this group, which at the time of his writing was still unfinished, was by that time in the Guards', commenting further that 'while the story is no doubt exaggerated ... it is true that the boy was eleven when the group was finally exhibited'. This double portrait is one of Lawrence's most successful evocations of maternal love on a grand scale.