Background

George Romney was born on December 26, 1734 in Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, United Kingdom (present-day Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, United Kingdom). He was a son of John Romney, a cabinet maker, and Anne Simpson.

Education

In his early years, Romney was sent to a school in Dendron, Cumbria. At the age of eleven, he was withdrawn from the school and apprenticed to his father's business instead.

Some time later, he showed his natural ability for drawing and making things from wood, including violins, which he played throughout his life. At the age of fifteen, George studied art under the tutelage of a local watchmaker John Williamson. Later, in 1755, he was apprenticed to Christopher Steele, a provincial portrait painter, but was largely self-taught.

In 1762, Romney moved to London, where he studied the Duke of Richmond's collection of casts of antique sculpture and established himself as a portraitist.

Career

In September 1764, George travelled to Paris in order to examine the works of the old masters. In 1768, he got acquainted with Richard Cumberland, the dramatist, whose portrait he painted, and who was helpful in introducing him to influential patrons. At that time, Romney also became friends with miniature painter Ozias Humphrey.

The year of 1769 was a breakthrough year – Romney exhibited a large portrait of Sir George Warren and his family at the Free Society of Artists, which was greatly admired and helped to lay the foundations of his future popularity. In 1770, he started to exhibit his work at the Chartered Society of Artists.

In 1773, Romney went to Italy, where he studied Raphael’s Stanze frescoes in Rome, Titian’s paintings in Venice and Correggio’s in Parma, and after his return in 1775 in England, he became the favorite painter of high society. By 1782, George was under the spell of Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton and the mistress of Nelson, who sat for him as Circe, a Bacchante, Cassandra, the Pythian Priestess, Joan of Arc, St. Cecilia, Mary Magdalene and other impersonations he suggested. For Romney, she became a means of escape into an imaginary, ideal world. He painted his "divine Emma" more than fifty times.

Unlike Joshua Reynolds, Romney did not enter into the character of his sitters, but he was psychologically involved with the generalized charms of youth, beauty and breeding, that he admired in his aristocratic sitters, and by combining a neoclassic purity of line with free, but masterly brushwork, he achieved a number of incomparable images, which transcend the realism of portraiture.

In the 1780's, George executed a number of Eton Leaving portraits, which established him as a supreme interpreter of aristocratic adolescence in his age. For much of his life in London, Romney was under the wing of the poet William Hayley, who encouraged him in the choice of subjects from Milton and Shakespeare, as well as the Bible and Greek tragedy. Romney's history paintings are today chiefly known from engravings, like the dramatic Tempest (1787-1790), commissioned for John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery.

In 1797, George moved to Holly Bush Hill in Hampstead, where he embarked on a series of costly building projects. In the summer of 1799, his health deteriorated, and Romney returned to Kendal, where his wife, Mary, nursed him during the remaining two years of his life until his death in 1802.

Achievements

• George Romney was a renowned British portrait painter. Also, he gained prominence as one of the finest representatives of the English School of Art.
  
  In 1763, the painter received award for his "The Death of General Wolfe" at the Free Society in London.
  
  Today, his works are kept in the collections of different museums and galleries around the world, including Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology in Oxford, Tate Gallery in London, Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and others.

Works

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  • Charles Jenkinson (1727–1808)

    (1st Lord Hawkesbury (1780), afterwards Created 1st Earl o...)

  • Lady Louisa Theodosia Hervey (1767–1821), Countess of Liverpool

  • Mrs Musters

  • Edward Wortley Montagu (1713–1776), MP

  • John Moore (1730–1805), Archbishop of Canterbury

  • George Stucley Buck

  • Mirth and Melancholy (Miss Wallis, Later Mrs James Campbell)

  • Mrs Mary Oliver (1763–1845)

  • Anne, Countess of Albemarle, and Her Son

  • John Smith (1703–1787)

  • Head of an Apostle

  • Abraham Newland (1730–1807), Chief Cashier of the Bank of England (1782–1807)

  • David Murray (1727–1796), Viscount Stormont

  • Sir John Trevelyan (1734–1828), 4th Bt

  • Captain John Taubman III (1746–1822)

  • Jane Maxwell (c.1749–1812) with her son George Duncan

  • Mary Bold (1740–1824), Mrs Thomas Hunt III

  • Elizabeth (c.1760–1826), Viscountess Bulkeley, as Hebe

  • John W. Oglander (c.1737–1794), Warden of New College (1768–1794)

  • Captain Robert Banks (b. 1734)

  • The Honourable Edward Ward (1753–1812)

  • Captain Arthur Forbes of Culloden (1760–1803)

  • Miss Martindale

  • Henry Hoare, Esq. of Mitcham Grove, Surrey (1750–1828)

  • Jacob Morland of Capplethwaite

  • Jemima Yorke (1763–1804), Mrs Reginald Pole-Carew

  • Michael Russell, Agent Victualler of Dover

  • George Harry Grey (1737–1819), 5th Earl of Stamford

  • John McArthur (1755–1840), Writer on Naval Topics

  • Abraham Rawlinson (1738–1803), MP, of Ellel Hall, near Lancaster

  • Unknown man, formerly known as Peter Romney

  • A Hand Holding a Letter

  • Judge Sir John Wilson

  • Mrs Bracebridge and Her Daughter Mary

  • Master Richard Meyler, 1795, Aged 3 or 4

  • Anne, Lady Holte (1734–1799)

  • Mrs Richard Cumberland and her Son Charles

  • Thomas Hutton Rawlinson (1712–1769)

  • A Lady in a Brown Dress. 'The Parson's Daughter'

  • John Postlethwaite

  • George Evelyn Boscawen, 3rd Viscount Falmouth (1758–1808)

  • William Pitt the Younger

  • Mrs Johnstone and her Son

  • Betsy Hodges (d. 1772), Second Wife of Philip Champion de Crespigny

  • Ferdinand Leaping from the Ship (fragment of 'The Tempest Act I, Scene 1')

  • The Gower Family. The Children of Granville, 2nd Earl Gower

  • Reverend Daniel Wilson

  • Joseph Allen (1713–1796)

  • Mrs Crouch

  • Emma Hart (c. 1765–1815), Lady Hamilton, as Circe

  • Warren Hastings (1732–1818), Governor General of Fort William, Bengal (1774–1785)

  • The Artist's Brother James, Holding a Candle

  • Captain William Peere Williams

  • Hugh Holme, Deputy Recorder of Kendal

  • Dorothea Bland (1762–1816), 'Mrs Jordan', as 'Peggy' in 'The Country Girl'

  • James Macpherson

  • Dr Edmund Law, Bishop of Carlisle (1769–1787)

  • General Sir Archibald Campbell (1739–1791), Soldier

  • Shute Barrington, Bishop of Durham

  • Vice-Admiral Sir Joshua Rowley (1734–1790)

  • Colonel James Lowther as a Young Man

  • Mrs Mary Robinson

  • Margaret Messenger (b. 1737), Mrs Walter Strickland

  • Lady Henrietta Cavendish-Bentinck (1737–1827), Countess of Stamford

  • Portrait of a Gentleman

  • William Henry Cavendish Bentinck (1738–1809), Duke of Portland

  • Alderman Thomas Wilson, Mayor of Kendal (1763–1764)

  • Dr John Matthews

  • Mrs Christian Cunninghame

  • Eleanor (d. 1856), Countess of Lauderdale

  • Captain, Later Admiral, Sir Hyde Parker (1739–1807)

  • Edward Smallwell (1721–1799), Bishop of Oxford

  • Philip Yorke (1757–1834), 3rd Earl of Hardwicke, KG, MP, FRS, FSA

  • The Four Friends

  • Anthony Todd (1716–1798)

  • Alonso, King of Naples and Another Figure (fragment of 'The Tempest Act I, Scene 1')

  • Portrait of a Gentleman

  • Elizabeth Allen (Mrs Josiah Wedgwood II) (1764–1846)

  • Admiral Sir Francis Geary (1709–1796)

  • The Death of General Wolfe at Quebec, 1759

  • Mary Rawlinson

  • Portrait of a Young Man of the Maynard Family

  • Richard Pennant (1737–1808), Baron Penrhyn of Penrhyn

  • Walter Strickland (1729–1761)

  • Brigadier-General Lawrence Nilson (1734–1811)

  • Captain William Bentinck (1764–1813)

  • Henry Bayly Paget (1744–1812), 1st Earl of Uxbridge, Aged 67

  • Charlotte Gunning, Later Mrs Stephen Digby

  • Benjamin (Thomas) Mee the Younger (1742–1796)

  • Lady Elizabeth (Scot) Lindsay (1763–1858), Countess of Hardwicke

  • A Courtier (fragment of 'The Tempest Act I, Scene 1')

  • Charles Strickland (1734–1770)

  • Esther Taubman, née Christian

  • Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool

  • John Wesley (1703–1791)

  • Portrait of a Flag Officer

  • John Richard West (1757–1783), 4th Earl de la Warr

  • Ariel

  • Frances Bankes (1756–1847), Lady Brownlow, with Her Son, The Honourable John Cust (1779–1853), Later 1st Earl Brownlow, GCH, FRS, MP

  • Harry Peckham, Esq. (1740–1787), Recorder of Chichester (1785)

  • James Clitherow (1731–1805)

  • Thomas Rackett the Elder (c. 1725–1799)

  • Ann Verelst (1751–1823)

  • Captain Arthur Forbes

  • Thomas Alphonso Hayley as 'Puck'

  • Emma Hart (c. 1765–1815), Lady Hamilton, as Calypso

  • Mrs Newbery

  • Thomas Alphonso Hayley (1780–1800)

  • Mary Hutton Rawlinson (1772–1786)

  • William Beckford (1760–1844)

  • Emma, Lady Hamilton

  • Jane Atkinson (1742–1823)

  • George Parker (1755–1842), 4th Earl of Macclesfield

  • The Lady Rouse Boughton

  • The Honourable Reverend Anchitel Grey (1774–1833), as a Boy

  • Mary McDonald Chichester (1768–1825), Wife of Thomas Hugh Clifford Constable

  • Mr and Mrs William Lindow

  • Sarah Ley, Mrs Richard Tickell (1770–after 1817)

  • Lady Henrietta Cavendish-Bentinck (1737–1827), Countess of Stamford

  • Charles Agar (1736–1809), Earl of Normanton

  • Charlotte Bettesworth (c. 1755–1841), Mrs John Sargent

  • Edward Smallwell, Bishop of Oxford

  • William Paley

  • Admiral Sir Charles Hardy (c. 1716–1780)

  • Abraham Rawlinson (1709–1780)

  • Sir Robert John Buxton, 1st Bt

  • Lieutenant Colonel Sir Charles Stuart (1753–1801)

  • John Flaxman; Thomas Alphonso Hayley

  • James Martin (1738–1810), MP for Tewkesbury (1776, 1780, 1784, 1790, 1796, 1802 & 1806)

  • Elizabeth, Countess of Craven, Later Margravine of Anspach

  • The Beaumont Family

  • 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', Act II, Scene 2, Titania Reposing with Her Indian Votaries

  • Frances Woodley (1760–1823), Mrs Henry Bankes II

  • Head of an Apostle

  • Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond and Lennox

  • Richard Cumberland

  • Emma, Lady Hamilton

  • Emma Hart at Prayer

  • Charles Fanshawe (1742–1814)

  • The Honourable Charlotte Clive (1762–1795)

  • Lady Hamilton as Circe

  • Mrs John Matthews

  • Mrs Mark Currie

  • Sir Henry Bayly (1744–1812), 3rd Bt, 9th Baron Paget, Later 1st Earl of Uxbridge of the Second Creation, Holding Copper Ore from the Mona Mine

  • Reverend Oliver Marton, Vicar of Lancaster (1767–1794)

  • Captain John Joseph Vernon, 3rd Dragoon Guards

  • The Right Honourable Charles Philip Yorke (1764–1834)

  • Thomas Rackett the Younger (1756–1840)

  • Admiral John Forbes (1714–1796)

  • Vice-Admiral George Darby (c. 1720–1790)

  • Lady Altamont

  • Dr Scales

  • David Scott, MP, of Dunninald

  • Georgiana, Lady Greville

  • Sarah Rodbard (c. 1765–1795)

  • Miss Vernon as Hebe

  • Lydia Henrietta Malortie (1754–1816), Mrs Henry Hoare

  • Midshipman George Cumberland

  • Henry Bathurst, Bishop Of Norwich (1805–1837)

  • James Farrer

  • Admiral Sir Hyde Parker (1714–1782), 5th Bt

  • Mary Moser

  • Henry Woodcock (1795–1829)

  • Percivall Pott (1713–1788)

  • William Frederick (1776–1834), 2nd Duke of Gloucester

  • Emma Hart (1765–1815), as Miranda

  • Euseby Cleaver (1746–1819), Archbishop of Dublin

  • Miss Hariot Milles

  • Sir John Trevelyan (1761–1846), 5th Bt

  • Major-General James Stuart (c.1735–1793), Commander-in-Chief in Madras

  • A Veiled Lady

  • Mrs Beal Bonnell

  • Emma Hart (c. 1761–1815), Later Lady Hamilton

  • Mrs Siddons

  • Lady Emilia Kerr

  • Lady Hamilton as Cassandra

  • Portrait of a Boy

  • Sir Archibald Macdonald

  • Peregrine Cust (1723–1785), MP

  • Anthony Todd, Postmaster General

  • Emma Hart as The Spinstress

  • Sir Thomas Rumbold (1736–1791), Bt

  • Thomas Greene

  • Major-General Sir Archibald Campbell of Inverneil and Ross (1739–1791), KB, Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Madras

  • Mrs Robert Trotter of Bush

  • John Satterthwaite

  • Mrs Thomas Rackett (c. 1734–1800)

  • Lord Ducie

  • Anna Maria Hunt (c. 1771–1861), the Honourable Mrs Charles Agar Bagenal

  • Mary Bootle (d. 1813), Mrs Wilbraham Bootle

  • Thomas Noel-Hill (1770–1832), 2nd Baron Berwick of Attingham

  • Serena Reading

  • Mrs Margaret Ainslie

  • The Honourable Anne Louisa Bertie (1747–1841), Lady Stuart

  • Robert Raikes

  • James Ainslie

  • George Harry, Lord Grey of Groby (1765–1845), Later 6th Earl of Stamford

  • Adam Walker and his family

Connections

In October 1756, Romney married an uneducated woman, Mary Abbot, whom he did not take with him to London, but to whom he returned, when his health finally deteriorated. Their marriage produced a son and a daughter.

Father:

John Romney

Mother:

Anne Simpson

Wife:

Mary Abbot

mentor:

Christopher Steele

Acquaintance:

Richard Cumberland

References

• George Romney, 1734-1802 This handsome catalogue, which accompanies a major international exhibition commemorating the bicentennial of George Romney's death, offers the first in-depth modern overview of a key figure in eighteenth-century British art.
  2002
• George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings This magnificent catalogue, in three volumes and with nearly 2,000 illustrations, will restore George Romney (1734–1802) to his long-overdue position – with his contemporaries Reynolds and Gainsborough – as a master of 18th-century British portrait painting. The author’s insights are guided by rich primary source material on Romney, including account books, ledgers and sketchbooks, as well as secondary sources, such as prints after lost works, newspaper reports and reviews, and writings by Romney’s contemporaries.
  2015
• George Romney: Selected Paintings
  2017