Dr John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury 

This portrait of Dr. John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury, was painted by Thomas Lawrence using oil on canvas. Lawrence’s skill with oil paint captures the Archbishop's presence through subtle gradations of light and shadow, building up texture, weight, and form to define the figure and the heavy swathes of his ecclesiastical dress. It also shows the division of labor of its time. The canvas, stretched and primed, the pigments carefully ground and mixed, the brushes shaped from animal hair: all these materials represent layers of skilled work by unseen hands. In Lawrence’s day, the art world operated through networks of workshops and suppliers. There would be assistants helping with everything from the initial sketch to the background details, all contributing to the final, impressive result. Paintings like this were not just aesthetic objects; they were products of a complex social system. Understanding that system helps us appreciate the full meaning of the artwork, and challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.