Laurence Sterne

Sitterback to top

• Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), Writer and divine; author of 'Tristram Shandy'. Sitter in 16 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Louis Carrogis ('Louis de Carmontelle') (1717-1806). Artist associated with 2 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Louis de Carmontelle made over six thousand watercolour portraits of celebrities and the friends of his patron, the Duc d'Orleans. He drew this portrait in 1762, when Laurence Sterne visited France after successfully publishing the first volumes of his novel Tristram Shandy (1759-67). Sterne liked the image and wrote to his friend David Garrick: 'The Duke of Orleans has suffered my portrait to be added to ... his collection; and a gentleman who lives with him has taken it most expressively'. Watercolours like this one were regarded as a form of drawing rather than painting because they were executed on paper.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 263
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 588

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

• The Art of Drawing: Portraits from the Collection, 1670-1780 (19 October 2012 - 19 May 2013)

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Chairs
• On display at the Gallery
• Shadows