two words: gertrude mcfuzz

When I visited the Frick this week to view Antea one last time (sniff), I also got nose-to-nose with Sir Thomas Lawrence's Julia, Lady Peel, a personal favorite from the permanent collection. (Click on image for enlargement - mainly for an up-close of her magnificent bracelets.)

Julia Floyd (1795–1859) was married in 1820 to the British statesman Sir Robert Peel, who twice served as Prime Minister and was an avid patron of Lawrence. The Frick portrait apparently was inspired by Rubens’ painting of Susanna Fourment known as Le Chapeau de Paille (see below) which Peel had acquired in 1823.

When Lawrence’s Lady Peel was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1827, a critic claimed it to be among “the highest achievements of modern art.” Lawrence’s flamboyant and virtuoso style has come to epitomize the spirit of the Regency period.








:frick collection