George RomneyOil Painting by George Romney "Portraits of a Lady and Gentleman"1780
1780
About the Item
- Creator:George Romney (1734 - 1802, English)
- Creation Year:1780
- Dimensions:Height: 39 in (99.06 cm)Width: 34 in (86.36 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:1780-1789
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Mere, GB
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1322211658792
George Romney
George Romney is best known as one of British society’s foremost portrait painters of the 18th century, rivaling other widely acknowledged portraitists such as Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds.
Born in 1734 in Dalton-on-Furness, Romney was the son of a cabinetmaker. In 1755, he began his artistic career as an apprentice to portrait painter Christopher Steele before traveling to northern England to establish a painting studio in Kendal. Romney’s talent in portraiture proved fruitful. By 1762, he had made enough money to set up a studio in London, where he became renowned for an “ability to paint flattering images regardless of personality.”
During the 1760s, Romney had hoped to become a history painter but was unsuccessful. To refine and improve his technique, he traveled to Rome in 1773, where he spent two years studying the Old Masters, including Titian, Correggio and Raphael. While there, he was also influenced by the works of Swiss painter Henry Fuseli.
Upon his return to London, in 1775, and with his newly honed painting style, Romney became even more popular among the British aristocracy and nobility. Although his primary aspiration was to make a living as a historical painter, Romney was in demand as a portraitist. His favorite subjects were children and women, particularly his muse, Emma Hart — who later became Lady Hamilton and mistress of Admiral Lord Nelson. Romney painted several Romantic portraits and drew many sketches of Lady Hamilton, whom he considered to represent the ideal of feminine beauty.
In his later years, Romney produced several portraits and drawings of Shakespearean subjects for John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery in 1790.
Romney’s figurative works, portraits and prints are held in collections of numerous major museums and galleries, including the National Portrait Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection in New York. In 2002, an exhibition commemorating the bicentenary of Romney’s death was organized by the National Museums Liverpool in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens in San Marino, California.
On 1stDibs, find a range of original George Romney drawings, paintings and prints.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Mere, United Kingdom
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 14 days of delivery.
- Oil Painting by Erwin Eichinger "The Cardinal"By Erwin EichingerLocated in Mere, GBFor sale is this oil painting on board by Erwin Eichinger "The Cardinal" 1892-1950 Member of the popular Austrian family of figurative artists who painted Tyrolean...Category
1930s Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Oil Painting by Erwin Eichinger "The Old Tyrolean Gentleman"By Erwin EichingerLocated in Mere, GBOil Painting by Erwin Eichinger "The Old Tyrolean Gentleman" 1892 - 1950 Member of the popular Austrian family of figurative artists who painted Tyrolean...Category
1920s Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Oil Painting Manner of Richard Cosway "Natalie"Located in Mere, GBOil Painting manner of Richard Cosway "Natalie" 1813 - 1880 Portrait bequeathed to Mrs William from the Duchess of Wellington in 1865 then by her to her...Category
19th Century Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil
- "Jane Lady Lurgan" Oil Painting by Henry Weigall JuniorBy Henry WeigallLocated in Mere, GB"Jane Lady Lurgan" Oil Painting by Henry Weigall Junior (1829-1925) was the son of sculptor, cameo engraver and medalist Henry Weigall (1800-1883). Weigall Junior exhibited at the Ro...Category
19th Century Victorian Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Oil Painting by Minnie Agnes Cohen The New Bonnet"Located in Mere, GBOil Painting by Minnie Agnes Cohen The New Bonnet" 1864 - 1940 Figurative scene painter studied at the Royal Academy Schools where she exhibited. Lived in Axminister, worked in St Iv...Category
19th Century Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Oil Painting by Henri Benard "Portrait of Aliette de Pigeard"Located in Mere, GBOil Painting by Henri Benard "Portrait of Aliette de Pigeard" 1860- 1927 Aliette de Pigeard (1897 - 1969) married Pedro de Prat, Marquis de Nantouillet, a Spanish ambassador. Their d...Category
Early 1900s Portrait Paintings
MaterialsOil
- Island of Broken Toys (diptych)Located in Burlingame, CA'Island of Broken Toys' 2019, a diptych contemporary oil on canvas painting by Tamera Avery, whose paintings are created with wit and wisdom. Avery's work...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Portrait Paintings
MaterialsCotton Canvas, Oil
- Oil Painting / Photorealism / Figurative Art / Human Figure /MuseumBy Bruce AdamsLocated in Buffalo, NYBruce Adams was a painter, art educator, and writer. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1952, he received a B.S. in 1976 and an M.A. in 1983 from Buffalo State College. Adams’s work is includ...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Madonna and Child with Angels in the CloudsLocated in New York, NYProvenance: Charles H. and Virginia Baldwin, Claremont, Colorado Springs, Colorado ca. 1907-1934; thence by descent until sold in 1949 to: Charles Blevins Davis, Claremont (renamed Trianon), Colorado Springs 1949 -until gifted in 1952 to: The Poor Sisters of Saint Francis, Trianon, Colorado Springs, 1952 until acquired, 1960, by: John W. Metzger, Trianon, renamed as the Trianon School of Fine Arts, Colorado Springs, 1960-1967; when transferred to: The Metzger Family Foundation, Trianon Art Museum, Denver, 1967 - 2004; thence by descent in the Metzger Family until 2015 Exhibited: Trianon Art Museum, Denver (until 2004) The present work is a spectacular jewel-like canvas by Amigoni, rich in delicate pastel colors, most likely a modello for an altarpiece either lost or never painted. In it the Madonna stands firmly upon a cloud in the heavens, her Child resting on a delicate veil further supported by a cloud, as he gently wraps his arm around his mother’s neck. From above angels prepare to lower flowers and a wreath, while other angels and seraphim surrounding the two joyfully cavort. Dr. Annalisa Scarpa, author of the forthcoming monograph on Jacopo Amigoni...Category
18th Century and Earlier Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Portrait of Laura Keppel, later Lady SouthamptonBy Sir John HoppnerLocated in New York, NYInscribed, upper left: “Miss Laura Keppel” Provenance: Commissioned from the artist and by descent in the Keppel family estate, Lexham Hall, Norfolk, to: Major Bertram William Arnol...Category
18th Century Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Portrait of a Lady with a ChiqueadorLocated in New York, NYProvenance: Torres Family Collection, Asunción, Paraguay, ca. 1967-2017 While the genre of portraiture flourished in the New World, very few examples of early Spanish colonial portraits have survived to the present day. This remarkable painting is a rare example of female portraiture, depicting a member of the highest echelons of society in Cuzco during the last quarter of the 17th century. Its most distinctive feature is the false beauty mark (called a chiqueador) that the sitter wears on her left temple. Chiqueadores served both a cosmetic and medicinal function. In addition to beautifying their wearers, these silk or velvet pouches often contained medicinal herbs thought to cure headaches. This painting depicts an unidentified lady from the Creole elite in Cuzco. Her formal posture and black costume are both typical of the established conventions of period portraiture and in line with the severe fashion of the Spanish court under the reign of Charles II, which remained current until the 18th century. She is shown in three-quarter profile, her long braids tied with soft pink bows and decorated with quatrefoil flowers, likely made of silver. Her facial features are idealized and rendered with great subtly, particularly in the rosy cheeks. While this portrait lacks the conventional coat of arms or cartouche that identifies the sitter, her high status is made clear by the wealth of jewels and luxury materials present in the painting. She is placed in an interior, set off against the red velvet curtain tied in the middle with a knot on her right, and the table covered with gold-trimmed red velvet cloth at the left. The sitter wears a four-tier pearl necklace with a knot in the center with matching three-tiered pearl bracelets and a cross-shaped earing with three increasingly large pearls. She also has several gold and silver rings on both hands—one holds a pair of silver gloves with red lining and the other is posed on a golden metal box, possibly a jewelry box. The materials of her costume are also of the highest quality, particularly the white lace trim of her wide neckline and circular cuffs. The historical moment in which this painting was produced was particularly rich in commissions of this kind. Following his arrival in Cuzco from Spain in the early 1670’s, bishop Manuel de Mollinedo y Angulo actively promoted the emergence of a distinctive regional school of painting in the city. Additionally, with the increase of wealth and economic prosperity in the New World, portraits quickly became a way for the growing elite class to celebrate their place in society and to preserve their memory. Portraits like this one would have been prominently displayed in a family’s home, perhaps in a dynastic portrait gallery. We are grateful to Professor Luis Eduardo Wuffarden for his assistance cataloguing this painting on the basis of high-resolution images. He has written that “the sober palette of the canvas, the quality of the pigments, the degree of aging, and the craquelure pattern on the painting layer confirm it to be an authentic and representative work of the Cuzco school of painting...Category
17th Century Old Masters Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- Men portraitBy Giovanni Maria delle Piane dit Mulinaretto (Genoa 1670 - Monticelli d´Ongina 1745)Located in BELEYMAS, FRGiovanni Maria DELLE PIANE, known as IL MULINARETTO (Genoa, 1660 – Monticelli d'Ongina, 1745) Portrait of a man Oil on oval canvas H. 108 cm; L. 83 cm Provenance: Nino Ferrari Colle...Category
1730s Italian School Figurative Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil