Sir Robert Laurie, 5th Bt

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sir Robert Laurie, 5th Bt

by James Ward, after William Owen
mezzotint, 1802 or after
14 7/8 in. x 10 7/8 in. (378 mm x 276 mm) plate size; 17 3/8 in. x 13 1/8 in. (440 mm x 332 mm) paper size
Acquired, 1981
Reference Collection
NPG D37195

Sitterback to top

Artistsback to top

  • William Owen (1769-1825), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 98 portraits.
  • James Ward (1769-1859), Engraver and painter of animals. Artist or producer associated with 40 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG D3544: Sir Robert Laurie, 5th Bt (from same plate)
  • NPG D37194: Sir Robert Laurie, 5th Bt (from same plate)

Events of 1802back to top

Current affairs

After returning from Naples, Nelson tours England with the diplomat and antiquarian Sir William Hamilton and his wife Emma, with whom he was having an affair. With Nelson's status confirmed as a national hero, their reception outrivals that of the King.
Extensive strikes in government shipyards led by John Gast.

Art and science

Francis Jeffrey, MP and arbiter of literary taste, co-founds the Edinburgh Review, the influential Whig quarterly which voiced strong criticism of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey.
The Exchange, where stocks were traded, is rebuilt to cope with an increase in business during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

International

Peace of Amiens; Britain finally agrees to unpopular peace, leaving France the chief power in Europe and returning recent British colonial acquisitions.
Napoleon is declared First Consul of the French Empire for life.
English flock to see the international war plunder now on display at the Louvre in Paris.

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Sir Andrew Laurie, 8th Baronet Laurie of Maxwelton

17 May 2021, 17:54

General Sir Robert Laurie was the son of Sir Robert Laurie of Maxwelton, 4th Baronet, and Christian Erskine. He was a great nephew of Anna ("Annie") Laurie of the famous song. His birth date is not recorded, but it must have been between 1735 and 1738. He died on 10 Sept. 1804 and was succeeded by his son, a Naval Officer who had a distinguished career and became an Admiral in 1846.

Osmund Bullock

01 July 2017, 23:01

Sir Robert Laurie (c.1738-1804) is described on the print as 'Lieutenant General', and the two groups of three laces on his sleeve(s) indicate the same thing. Thus William Owen's original painting (and probably the print) must date from between his promotion to this rank in 1798 and his further promotion to full General in 1803. And in fact the painting unsurprisingly turns out to have been exhibited by Owen at the Royal Academy (summer exhibition) in the spring of 1802 (No. 45).