Pinkie

Pinkie is an oil on canvas painted by Thomas Lawrence in 1794, now held by the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. It shows Sarah Barrett Moulton, a girl of about eleven who had come to England from Jamaica to receive a better education. Her grandmother, writing from the island, asked for a full-length likeness of "my dear little Pinkey" in an easy, relaxed pose, and Lawrence delivered a fresh image with a direct gaze and loose, energetic brushwork that feels unusually close for a portrait of its time. It was shown at the Royal Academy in 1795, the year the sitter died, and after passing through several private owners it entered the museum's collection in 1927. Much of its renown comes from its long pairing with Gainsborough's The Blue Boy, which hangs opposite it; the two share a youthful air, though they were painted by different artists a generation apart.

Painter

Thomas Lawrence

Date

1794

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

148 × 102 cm

Museum

The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino

Genre

portrait

Depicts

Sarah Moulton

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