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Portrait of Catherine Grey, Lady Manners
Also known as: Catherine Gray, Lady Manners; Lady Louisa (Tollemache) Manners (1745-1840), Later Countess of Dysart, as Juno; Lady Louisa Manners, later Countess of Dysart, as Juno
About the Artwork
The Irish poet Lady Manners rejected as “unflattering” this portrait representing her as the goddess Juno, symbolized here by the peacock. Thomas Lawrence exhibited the painting at the Royal Academy in 1794 with the label “to be disposed of [sold],” but it was still in the artist’s collection when he died. Though it offended Lady Manners, the painting displays all the hallmarks of Lawrence’s flamboyant style:dazzling, fluid brushwork and an innovative use of unconventional colors that helped secure his role as the most fashionable portrait painter in turn-of-the-century Britain.
Provenance
1794-1830: property of the artist, Sir Thomas Lawrence [1769-1830] 1831: (Christie's, London Sir Thomas Lawrence sale, June 18, 1831, no. 147, purchased by Samuel Woodburn) 1831-?: Samuel Woodburn; sold to Frederick John Fifth Baron Monson ?-1888: Frederick John, Fifth Baron Monson [died 1841], and his heirs, Gatton Park, Surrey; sold at Christie's, London (Christie's, London, May 12, 1888, no. 21, sold to Davis) 1888: Davis 1888-?: William, Fifth Earl of Carysfort Lady Carysfort; by descent to her nephew Douglas James Proby Colonel Douglas James Proby, Elton Hall, Huntingdonshire 1919-?: (Duveen Brothers) 1924-?: Jules S. Bach, New York ?-1960: John D. Rockefeller, Jr. [1874-1960]; by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1961-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961). Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963). Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965). Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984). The Swagger Portrait. Tate, London SW1P 4RG (organizer) (October 14, 1992-January 10, 1993). Masterpieces of European Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, OH (March 29-July 8, 2007). Thomas Lawrence: Regency, Power & Brilliance. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT (organizer) (February 24-June 5, 2011). British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Thomas Lawrence (British, 1769–1830)
- Date
- 1794
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 280.5 x 185 x 9 cm (110 7/16 x 72 13/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 255.3 x 158 cm (100 1/2 x 62 3/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Bequest of John D. Rockefeller Jr.
- Accession no.
- 1961.220
More by Sir Thomas Lawrence in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009197
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