Sir John Lavery

Portrait of Locket C. Thompson

Lavery first made his name as a portrait painter in 1888 when he was commissioned to paint Queen Victoria's visit to the International Exhibition in Glasgow. In this portrait of Locket Croal Thompson, Lavery skillfully captures the boyish charm of the young Scotsman. Although portrayed in full highland dress with angelic blond hair and rosy cheeks, his side-long glance and slightly impish smile betrays a hint of mischief. Standing in front of, rather than sitting in, the velvet chair, young Thompson seems ready to dash out of the scene as soon as he is given leave to do so. As a contemporary critic of Lavery's observed, "if mothers want their lads to look sweet in a picture, they should not go to John Lavery."