Editing Thomas Lawrence (section)

=== President of the Royal Academy ===
[[File:Thomas Lawrence by Edward Hodges Baily, 1830, National Portrait Gallery, London.JPG|thumb|left|upright 0.6|A bust of Thomas Lawrence by [[Edward Hodges Baily]], 1830]]
Lawrence arrived back in London 30 March 1820 to find that the president of the Royal Academy, [[Benjamin West]], had died. That very evening Lawrence was voted the new president, a position he would hold until his death 10 years later. George III had died in January; Lawrence was granted a place in the procession for the coronation of George IV. On 28 February 1822 he was elected as a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] "for his eminence in art".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://catalogues.royalsociety.org/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=EC%2F1821%2F40 |title=Library and Archive Catalogue: Lawrence, Sir Thomas (1769–1830) |work=The Royal Society |access-date=17 January 2023}}</ref> 

The royal commissions continued during the 1820s, including one for a portrait of the king's sister [[Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom|Sophia]], and one of [[Walter Scott|Sir Walter Scott]] (along with [[Jane Austen]], one of Lawrence's favourite authors), as well as one to paint the [[Coronation of Charles X|newly-crowned]] [[Charles X of France]] for the Waterloo series, for which Lawrence made a trip to Paris, taking Herman Wolff with him.<ref>Levey 2005: 263</ref> Lawrence acquired another important patron in [[Robert Peel]], who commissioned the painter to do portraits of his family as well a portrait of [[George Canning]]. Two of Lawrence's most famous portraits of children were painted during the 1820s: that of Emily and Laura Calmady, daughters of [[Charles Calmady]], and that of Master Charles William Lambton, painted for his father [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham|Lord Durham]] for 600 guineas and known as ''[[The Red Boy]]''. The latter portrait attracted much praise when it was exhibited in Paris in 1827.<ref>Levey 2005: 249–258</ref> One of the artist's last commissions was of future prime-minister [[George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen|the Earl of Aberdeen]]. [[Fanny Kemble]], a niece of Sarah Siddons, was one of his last sitters (for a drawing).[[File:The Red Boy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.03|''[[The Red Boy]]'', a portrait of Master Lambton, eldest son of [[John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham]], c. 1825]]Lawrence died suddenly on 7 January 1830, just months after his friend Isabella Wolff. A few days previously he had experienced chest pains but had continued working and was eagerly anticipating a stay with his sister at Rugby, when he collapsed and died during a visit from his friends Elizabeth Croft and Archibald Keightley.<ref>Levey 2005: 296–99</ref> After a post-mortem examination, doctors concluded that the artist's death had been caused by ossification of the aorta and vessels of the heart. Lawrence's first biographer, D. E. Williams suggested that this in itself was not enough to cause death and it was his doctors' over-zealous bleeding and leeching that killed him.<ref>Goldring 1951: 330</ref> Lawrence was buried on 21 January in the crypt of [[St Paul's Cathedral]].<ref>"Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [[William Sinclair (Archdeacon of London)|Sinclair, W.]] p. 468: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909.</ref> Amongst the mourners was [[J. M. W. Turner]] who painted a [[Funeral of Sir Thomas Lawrence|sketch of the funeral from memory]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-funeral-of-sir-thomas-lawrence-a-sketch-from-memory-d25467 |title='Funeral of Sir Thomas Lawrence: A Sketch from Memory', Joseph Mallord William Turner |work=Tate |access-date=16 June 2022 }}</ref>
Lawrence was famed for the length of time he took to finish some of his paintings (Isabella Wolff waited twelve years for her portrait to be completed) and, at his death, his studio contained a large number of unfinished works. Some were completed by his assistants and other artists, some were sold as they were. In his will Lawrence left instructions to offer, at a price much below their worth, his collection of Old Master drawings to first George IV, then the trustees of the [[British Museum]], then Robert Peel and the [[John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley|Earl of Dudley]]. None of them accepted the offer and the collection was split up and auctioned; many of the drawings later found their way into the British Museum and the [[Ashmolean Museum]].<ref>Goldring 1951: 335–342</ref> After Lawrence's creditors had been paid, there was no money left, although a memorial exhibition at the [[British Institution]] raised £3,000 which was given to his nieces.<ref>Levey 2005: 306</ref>