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

Juliana (known as Julia) Angerstein (1772-1846) was the daughter of John Julius Angerstein (1732-1823), the Lloyds of London underwriter whose collection of paintings, including masterpieces by Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt and Van Dyck, formed the basis of the National Gallery when it was acquired by the government in 1824.

In 1804 Julia married General Nikolai Alexandrovich Sabloukoff, a godson of Empress Catherine, much against her family’s wishes, and settled in Russia in 1807. It seems that the falling out over the marriage was short-lived as Farington wrote on 27 May 1806, 'Mr Angerstein is so far reconciled to General Sabloukoff who married Miss Angerstein as to have dined with them'. The present drawing depicts her as a young woman, wearing a bonnet and looking demurely downward and was almost certainly made prior to her marriage. Another version was sold at Sotheby’s, London, 23 November 1967, lot 40.