T. Lawrence, H.E. Lord Stewart's, Vienna, to Miss Croft, Hart Street, Bloomsbury

RA Collection: Archive

Reference code

LAW/9/18

Title

T. Lawrence, H.E. Lord Stewart's, Vienna, to Miss Croft, Hart Street, Bloomsbury

Date

10 Jan 1819

Level

Item

Extent & medium

3 pieces

Content Description

He is so exhausted after finishing work that he rarely feels like writing; he will provide her with news of the progress of his mission for the Prince Regent, but he knows Lord Stewart will have written to her in flattering terms; he is grateful for the attention she has shown to the repairs on his house as he had no idea it was so delapidated; he expresses his excitement at the prospect of going to Rome and hopes that the visit will "unfold" the world of art for him.

The Emperor has sat to him again and is a marvelous person; he has painted Count Capo Distria, Russian Minister of State and man of wit and talent, he is also working on painting Princes Metternich and Schwarzenberg; he describes a ball, attended by Arch Duke Charles and his wife; he has a far superior painting room to that used at Aix la Chapelle; he has been to the Imperial Gallery of the Belvidere four times.

He asks that she package up any correspondence waiting for him; his niece Susan has died and he has painted an impression of her for his sister; [there follows a passage that has been deliberately obscured]; he ponders the ability of a mutual acquaintance, Georgiana, to sing in Italian without a knowledge of the language; sends his regards to Herman, Hester and Capt. Chawner.