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Title: George Romney

Author: George C. Williamson

Release date: October 25, 2022 [eBook #69228]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: George Bell & Sons, 1901

Credits: Al Haines


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GEORGE ROMNEY ***







[Frontispiece: MRS. ROBINSON AS "PERDITA."]



  Bell's Miniature Series of Painters


  GEORGE ROMNEY

  BY

  ROWLEY CLEEVE



  LONDON
  GEORGE BELL & SONS
  1908




  First Published, 1901.
  Reprinted, 1904, 1908.




TABLE OF CONTENTS


The Life of George Romney

Lady Hamilton

The Art of Romney

Our Illustrations

The Chief Works of Romney

Some of the Chief Books on Romney

Chronology




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Mrs. Robinson as Perdita ... _Frontispiece_

The Countess-Duchess of Sutherland

The Parson's Daughter

Lady Hamilton

Children Dancing in a Ring

Mrs. Mark Currie

The Clavering Children

George Granville, afterwards Duke of Sutherland




THE LIFE OF GEORGE ROMNEY

George Romney was a Cumberland lad, born in 1734, of parents who were
in humble circumstances living at Dalton in the Fells.

His father was an ingenious man who lived on his own farm as a
yeoman, but who followed also the pursuits of a joiner and
cabinet-maker, and who was one of the first persons in the north to
see and make use of the newly imported wood mahogany, from which he
made a chest of drawers out of a sailor's chest brought from the West
Indies.

Romney inherited much of his father's ingenuity, and as a lad set
about making a fiddle, which he completed in later years and retained
all his life.  It was a sound instrument of really good tone, and the
artist himself played well upon it.

As a lad Romney was sent to a small local school; but he made very
slight progress with his studies, and preferred to spend his time in
sketching or in copying the pictures that he found in papers or books.

His father, finding that he was making so little progress, took him
away from school before he was eleven, and placed him in his own
workshop, where he soon began to learn how to ply the tools and to
make a creditable use of his new accomplishment.

Still, however, his spare time was filled up by painting, and he made
very careful copies of the illustrations in a monthly magazine which
one of his father's workmen, who boarded in the house, lent him
regularly as it appeared.

He was also asked by a person in the village to paint her portrait,
and succeeded in performing the commission in so creditable a way,
that it was quite clear to the elder Romney that his son was intended
by nature to be an artist.

Accordingly, yielding to the persuasions of the lad himself, backed
up as they were by those of many friends, he took steps to apprentice
him to an itinerant painter, who was at that time in their
neighbourhood, named Steele.

Here he was employed in the more menial work of the craft, grinding
colours and preparing the palette; but Steele, although a poor
painter himself, had been well trained in Paris, and was able to
teach his young pupil much that was of the greatest use to him in his
after career.

Steele afterwards eloped with a young lady who was one of his pupils,
and Romney had to assist him in his arrangements.  They were
difficult, and involved a vast amount of trouble and exposure to
night air at a time when the youth was far from strong; and after the
gay couple had escaped to Gretna Green, Romney fell ill of a fever,
and was nursed by a domestic servant named Mary Abbott.  With this
young person the artist fell violently in love, and on recovering
from his illness married her on October 14th, 1756, when only
twenty-two years old, and without any means of his own on which to
live.

He had to leave his wife very soon after marriage, as Steele had gone
to York, where he expected Romney to join him; but after a while the
roving life that his master led, and his improvident habits and
constant difficulties as to money, disheartened Romney, and he agreed
with Steele that, if he would cancel his indenture, Romney would
forgive him a debt that he had incurred of £10 from the young
apprentice.

This course was adopted, and Romney returned to Kendal, where his
wife had been residing.

Here he commenced his own work as a portrait-painter, and from at
first painting signboards he soon became known as a clever worker,
and was employed by the persons of quality in the neighbourhood to
paint their portraits.

Many of the neighbouring landowners employed him, and at this time
the artist set about painting historical scenes also and landscapes,
in order to turn his time to profitable account.  Many of these he
sold at Kendal Town Hall by a system of lottery that was then very
popular.

By such work the young couple were enabled to save £100, and with
some of this money Romney determined to make his way up to London, as
he felt that the limited scope that he had in the north was cramping
his powers and that he was capable of greater things.

He had but two children, a son and a little daughter, and his wife,
who loved him profoundly, was quite prepared to sacrifice herself in
order that her husband might prosper.  Therefore, taking with him but
£30 of their joint savings, and leaving the remainder for her and the
children, Romney left his native county for the great and distant
city on March 14th, 1762.

The little daughter whom he left behind him died in the following
year, and Mrs. Romney, with her son, removed to the house of her
father-in-law, John Romney, with whom she continued to live.

During the whole time of his sojourn in London, which, with the
exception of brief visits in 1767 and 1779, lasted till 1799, Romney
appears to have continued on terms of the closest affection with his
wife, and to have remitted to her constantly such sums of money as
she required; but he never brought her up to London, and, as has been
stated, only visited her in Kendal twice during the thirty-seven
years which he spent in London.

This is the incident in the life of the artist upon which much stress
has been laid by malevolent writers, and hard things have been said
without number about Romney for his so-called desertion of his wife.

It must be remembered, however, that Romney's son and biographer does
not say any hard things about his father in this matter, nor does he
upbraid him for leaving his wife far away in the Fells.  Mrs. Romney
did not write letters of expostulation to her husband, or demand that
she should be brought up to London; and when her husband returned to
her as an invalid, she received him lovingly and nursed him with
great devotion till his death.  She in no way suffered pecuniary loss
by his absence, as he regularly sent sums of money to her; and when
their son was old enough to come to town, Romney had him to his
house, treated him with the greatest affection, and took him about
with him.

Surely it ill beseems those who consider the life of this gifted
artist so to condemn his action, when those who were the ones best
fitted to blame him specially abstained from doing so!

Mrs. Romney, be it remembered, came of very humble parentage, and was
a homely person of but slight education.  She appears to have had her
own circle of friends in the places where she lived, to have been a
person of simple tastes, not anxious to mix in the world of fashion
or to receive its comments and its sneers.  She would have been in
all probability unhappy in London, have in no wise enjoyed the life
that her husband lived, and have been an encumbrance to him and a
clog on his progress; and Romney very possibly feared to expose her
simplicity to the contempt of the people of fashion whom he met and
whose portraits he painted.

She may have desired to avoid such society and have preferred her
quiet at home, and it may have been a refinement of kindness on his
part which led him to shelter her from the troubles which he knew
would await her in London.

There is nothing which, with any degree of accuracy, can be stated
against the moral character of Romney whilst he was away from her,
and all such charges against him fall to the ground by reason of the
absence of proof, and it seems clear that it was no such cause that
kept him from sending for his wife.  Even the reports as to Romney
and Lady Hamilton, to which reference is made in a succeeding
chapter, are gainsaid by the letters of Lady Hamilton herself which
are in the Morrison collection, and no one has ever been able to
produce one single piece of evidence in support of the statements
that have been too wildly made.  Mrs. Romney from the very first
showed her deep attachment to her husband by sacrificing herself for
his advancement; and she continued, as her letters show, throughout
her life, to act in the same way for him, and to give him her deepest
and tenderest affection: and we are therefore justified in accepting
as normal a state of affairs as to which the chief persons concerned
made no complaint, and in declining to attribute to the artist any
unworthy motives for his conduct.

Romney did not come to London provided with references or
introductions, nor with much money, and the consequence was that for
the first ten years of his life in town it was a struggle for him to
do any more than keep himself and remit small sums to his wife in
Kendal.

He seems to have known only two persons in London, neither of whom
was in a position to do much to assist him.

His first important effort proved a disappointment to him in its
result.  He competed for a premium offered by the Society of Arts,
and his picture of _The Death of General Wolfe_, sent in 1763,
received the second prize of fifty guineas.  Later on, however, it
was stated that the picture was not painted at all by this unknown
artist, but by someone else, and that a fraud had been practised; and
then, when that was disproved, the costume of the picture, which was
not the usual one adopted at the time, was objected to; and it was
further claimed that the event was not strictly historical, having
only so recently happened.  The prize was accordingly taken away from
Romney; but, in consideration of the merits of the work, an
_ex-gratia_ payment was made to the artist by the Council of the
Society of twenty-five guineas.  The leading artists of the day had
in this way given a slight to this new-comer which he never in after
years forgot.

Whether, as has been stated, Sir Joshua Reynolds was at the head of
this movement to crush the young artist we cannot tell; but it seems
likely that the bitter jealousy which existed between the two men in
after years, and which Reynolds never lost an opportunity of
increasing, took its rise at this time, and certain it is that
Reynolds hated to hear Romney praised, and was ever ready to say and
do things that would annoy and irritate his rival.

Romney had always been convinced that the study of the great artists
of the Continent was needful for him before he would be able to
accomplish what he felt was within him, and he made every effort to
get to Italy in order to study the Old Masters.

At this time he was unable to accomplish his cherished desire for
want of funds, but he saved all that he could, and contented himself
with a journey to Paris.

Here he copied all the works that appealed strongly to him, and spent
every hour of his time in visiting galleries and churches and
feasting his eyes on the treasures which they contained.  His
acquaintance with Vernet was of great service to him at this issue.

On his return to London after some seven weeks' absence he again set
valiantly to work, and in 1765 carried off a premium from the Society
of Arts of fifty guineas against all his competitors.

Then, in 1767, he went down to see his wife, and when he returned to
London he brought with him his brother Peter, hoping to be able to
assist him in some measure.  Peter was not, however, steady or
industrious, and, although he sat to his cleverer brother more than
once, he did not remain with him long, but drifted away and
eventually settled down to a more or less precarious life in
Manchester.

Romney now made close friends with Richard Cumberland, who was known
at that time as a writer of odes and a man of no small literary
grace.  Cumberland wrote about his new friend and also introduced him
to many other persons, and in this way the artist obtained
commissions for portraits from several notable personages.

Another important friend whom he made at this time was the
miniature-painter Ozias Humphrey, with whom he made several
excursions, and who was one of his closest friends for many years.

Two more efforts he made at this time to visit Italy, which was ever
the goal of his desire; but on neither occasion was he able to start.
The death of a friend on one occasion and his own serious illness on
another prevented his leaving England, but in 1773 the long-desired
visit took place.

The two friends, Romney and Humphrey, set out on March 20th, and
after resting at Knole, near Sevenoaks, as the guests of the Duke of
Dorset, to whom both artists were well known, they left England by
water and arrived in Rome on June 18th.

He was provided this time with the best of introductions, especially
bearing with him a letter to the reigning Pope Clement XIV., who
received him most graciously, and allowed him to have scaffolding
specially erected in the Vatican that he might study the works of
Raphael.

Other introductions which the artist took with him were from Sir
William Hamilton and his nephew Greville.

Romney was not yet a man of any means, and he supported himself
whilst in Rome by painting portraits and some historical works, and
by copying the great masterpieces which he found in the Eternal City;
but he had to make every effort to be economical, as his pictures did
not meet with a ready sale in Italy, and he desired to visit many
other cities whilst in the country besides Rome.

He actually did see Venice, Bologna, Florence, Padua, Castel-franco,
and even some of the smaller cities, as Modena, Reggio and Mantua.
Then he slowly made his way back to England by way of Aix and Paris,
arriving in London after two years' absence in high spirits, full of
ideas, and overwhelmed with enthusiasm for all he had seen, but in a
pecuniary condition poorer than he had ever been in his life.

He had, in fact, had to borrow money to carry him through France, and
almost to starve himself in his journey, as his small means had long
ago vanished, and he had withdrawn all the money that he had banked
ere he left Italy.

When he arrived he was met by demands for immediate assistance on the
part of his clever but ne'er-do-well brother Peter, but was for the
moment unable to assist him.

He found, however, that his own fame had increased during his
absence, and the demand for work from his brush was considerable, so
much so that he was overwhelmed with the commissions that flowed in.

He felt now that he was in a position to take a larger house in a
more fashionable neighbourhood than he had possessed before; and
accordingly, as Francis Cotes, R.A., the painter in pastel, had died,
and his house in Cavendish Square was still vacant, Romney took it
and moved in on Christmas Day, 1775.

Cotes had died in 1770, and the sale of his effects took place in
February, 1771; but after that the house stood vacant for a long
time, and when Romney took it needed some considerable repair.

Romney had ever a fondness for bricks and mortar, and was delighted
at the prospect of altering and adding to the house.

He bought the lease, which had some thirty years to run, and was
subject to a rental of £105 per annum; and, although there was
already a good studio attached to the premises in the form of a
double room with sky-light and domed ceiling, yet the artist must
needs set about building another and adding to the accommodation of
the house, and so again exhausting his savings.

He also foolishly declined many of the commissions sent him, because
he did not possess a studio which was, according to his ideas, fit
for the reception of his clients, and in this way an idea got about
that he was not desirous of doing any more work.  The public taste
accordingly veered round, and for a short time Romney found himself
deserted by the crowds of would-be-sitters who had just before poured
in upon him.

Then the Duke of Richmond, who had befriended the artist before, and
had opened his gallery of sculpture to his use at any time, looked in
upon him at his new residence and gave him several commissions,
besides bringing with him many of his own friends, and was delighted
to have the artist for a while practically to himself and his own
circle of acquaintance.  This turned the tide once more in the
artist's favour, and prosperity never again deserted him.

[Illustration: ELIZABETH, COUNTESS-DUCHESS OF SUTHERLAND.]

He now became the serious rival of Reynolds, who spoke of him in
slighting manner as "the man in Cavendish Square," pretending, with
studied insult, to have entirely forgotten his name.

All the world of fashion and wealth sat to the artist, and his list
of portraits reads like a page from the fashionable gazette of the
day, including as it does all the persons who were then well known in
town and who constituted the cream of society.

The opportunity now arose for Romney to show how indifferent he was
to the slights and contempt of his fellow-artists who ranged
themselves around Sir Joshua.

The Royal Academy had at this time sprung into being, and its members
desired to include all the chief artists in their ranks, and to show
that those outside their membership were not worthy of attention.
All their efforts, however, to include the name of the most
fashionable artist of the time, or to hang his pictures on the walls
of the exhibition, were in vain.

Romney was begged by his great friend Jeremiah Meyer, one of the
leading miniature-painters and an original member of the new Academy,
to come within its shelter.  He was also approached by Mrs. Moser, by
Humphrey, and by Angelica Kauffmann, all of whom desired him to
exhibit his works.  But it was in vain, and never did Romney send a
single picture to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy.  He
completely ignored it, would not suffer it to be mentioned in his
presence, considered that it was not worthy of any recognition, and
went on painting pictures of all the loveliest women of society, but
declining to allow a single one of them to be shown in the
exhibitions of the Academy.

This determination was partly dictated, no doubt, by modesty, as
there is every evidence that Romney was a modest, retiring, shy man,
and even at the very zenith of his fame was not found in the
brilliant society in which the President delighted.  He was fond of
his home and of his son, and was not a gay but a quiet man; but there
is little doubt that his refusal to share in the glories of the
Academy was also partly the result of his wish to show to those who
had been bitter and who were still jealous of his fame that he was
quite able to stand alone, and did not require the aid of any Academy
to render his works popular or to enhance his fame.

The determination cost him the patronage of the Court and of a
certain select group of persons who followed the lead of the King and
did not select for themselves, but it is probable that in the long
run the artist did not really suffer thereby.

He was a self-respecting and unassuming man at all times, and was not
in the habit of forcing his way into any society or of appealing for
commissions from his friends.

No flattery escaped his lips, no adulation of those who could assist
him by their introductions and so render him the aid which he
required; and in all these ways he was the reverse of those who were
around him, and who used every artifice to bring themselves into
popular notice and shrank from no ignoble effort to obtain patronage.

In 1779 he seems to have paid one of his infrequent visits to his
wife in Kendal, and to have refreshed himself by a sight of his
native county; but he was soon back again and hard at work.

It was perhaps at about this time that he first made the acquaintance
of William Hayley, a poet, who had a great celebrity at that time,
but whose chief work, "The Triumphs of Temper," is now never read.

The influence of this man upon Romney was not good, and of it his
son, the Rev. John Romney, in after years spoke with much bitterness.
Romney was, as has been already stated, fond of building work, and
pleased to see an opportunity of increasing a house or studio; and
this propensity of his was encouraged by Hayley, who loved to make a
sensation and to live in a large house; and although Hayley was fond
of Romney and brought him many commissions, yet on the whole the
judgment of later days is certainly to the effect that it would have
been better for Romney if he had never met this attractive friend.

For over twenty years the two men continued fast friends, and Romney
used often to go down to stay with Hayley at Eartham, near
Chichester, and spent some weeks during each autumn with him.  He
decorated part of the house, painting some delightful pictures to be
placed in the new library that Hayley built; and he met there many
pleasant friends, amongst whom were the poet Cowper and his friend
Mrs. Unwin, in connection with whom is the chief claim that Hayley
has for remembrance, and also the young sculptor Flaxman, for whom
Romney acquired a deep friendship.

Hayley was a man of fine taste, personal fascination and amiability,
and fond of associating with men of culture and quality; and it is
for his friends rather than for any work that he himself did that his
memory is kept in honour.  Romney is said to have first met him when,
returning from Kendal, he stopped awhile at Tabley as the guest of
Sir John Leicester; and, as they were all of them great admirers of
Pope, the acquaintance began which lasted for so many years, brought
them into contact with Cowper and with Gibbon, and eventually made
Hayley one of the biographers of Romney.

In 1790 Romney again went to Paris, this time accompanied by his
friend Hayley and by the Rev. Thomas Carwardine, whose portrait he
had painted.

They were well received in that city, and visited many of the chief
galleries, with introductions from the English Ambassador, who at the
time was Lord Gower, afterwards second Marquess of Stafford and first
Duke of Sutherland.

During this visit Hayley is said to have obtained the first of
several loans that he got from Romney and never repaid.  In this case
it was £100.

On his return to London he was again almost overwhelmed with work, as
more than ever he had become the fashion, and his portraits were
desired by all who could afford to sit to him.  The strain, however,
of such constant work was beginning to tell upon the artist, who by
this time was sixty years old, and he was glad of any excuse to leave
town for a while to rest himself in the country.

He took a little cottage at Hampstead, to which he could retire for
quiet; he stayed more and more with Hayley at Eartham, desiring some
of his clients to come to him there, that in the quiet of that
restful spot he might do fuller justice to their charms than he was
able to do amid the turmoils of London life.

Whilst there he often rode over to Petworth, where he was painting
portraits for Lord Egremont, and in these ways he got the country air
and rest that were out of the question when he was in town.  He did
not, however, improve in mental vigour; but the old mania for
building came on with greater force than ever, and unfortunately
Hayley did not scruple to encourage it for his own ends.

[Illustration: THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER.]

In 1796 he was found one day by his son busy with extravagant ideas
and designs for a great mansion in Edgware Road, and it was only the
fact that his son was able to point out the folly of such an idea
which dissuaded him from its accomplishment.  The proposed purchase
was eventually broken off, and Mr. John Romney records in his volume
most gratefully his thankfulness to the solicitor, who behaved very
handsomely in this matter.

Romney was, however, determined to leave Cavendish Square, and,
acting on the advice of his son to buy a ready-built house rather
than to erect one, he purchased an old dwelling-house near Holly Bush
Hill, Hampstead, now identified with that known as The Mount, Heath
Street, Hampstead, close to where he had been in the habit of lodging
for some little while, and where he found the quiet and retirement
which he desired.

This happened in 1796, and Romney let the residence in Cavendish
Square and went to reside at Hampstead.

The accommodation did not, however, content him, and he acquired two
copyhold plots of ground at the back of the house, on which he
forthwith erected what Hayley describes as "a singular fabric," but
which Cunningham calls a "strange new studio and dwelling-house."

He adds that it "cost £2,733, and was an odd whimsical structure, in
which there was nothing like sufficient domestic accommodation,
though there was a wooden arcade for a riding house in the garden,
and a very extensive picture and statue gallery."

There is little doubt that this structure forms part of what is at
present the Constitutional Club, the large room being Romney's
picture gallery, although considerable additions have been made to
the building.

In 1798 he had sold his London house to Mr., afterwards Sir Martin
Shee, and, as this strange structure was ready, he moved into it, and
let off to a Mrs. Rundell the old adjacent house in which he had been
residing.

The new "whimsical" structure was not really complete when the artist
went to live in it.  The walls were not dry, the roof let in water;
but the artist insisted on moving into his fanciful residence, and on
taking with him the vast stock he had of his own pictures and those
by other artists which he had collected.

Many of them were quickly injured by the damp of the house, and
others by being placed in the open arcade; and Flaxman in a letter
records the distress that he felt at seeing so fine a collection of
works perishing.

Romney was now more than ever under the influence of Hayley, which
was being used to its full and baneful extent, and other persons were
taken into the house on the advice of the poet to assist the artist
and to look after him, who were all more or less creatures of Hayley.

Hayley was considerably in Romney's debt, and was anxious, it is
clear, that no one of repute should look into the affairs of the
painter, but that his influence should reign supreme.

In 1798, however, Romney broke away from this state of affairs, and,
accompanied by his son, who was devoted to him, and whose absence at
his religious duties was the only reason which prevented his dwelling
always with the artist, visited the north of England, not, however,
as far as can be ascertained, going to Kendal.

A pleasant holiday was spent in the Lake district, but the mental
vigour of the old artist did not gain much increase of strength by
the change, and when he returned to London his health had completely
broken down.

The following year he was again at Eartham with Hayley, but for the
last time.  Hayley's good nature towards his friends, his extravagant
habits and his luxurious life, combined with utter neglect of
monetary matters, had brought about the necessity for stern
retrenchment, and Eartham was to be sold.  He removed to Felpham,
where he built a cottage near the sea, and there he and his son
resided till the death of the latter, shortly afterwards; but at the
earnest advice of Flaxman and his wife, coupled with the entreaties
of his son, Romney went north back again to his wife, of whom he had
seen so little for many years.  She received him gladly and with open
arms, and nursed him to the end with the most touching tenderness.

The last event of his life was the return from India of his brother,
Colonel James Romney, to whom he had always been greatly attached,
and for whom he had suffered some privations in order that the
requisite sum needful for the Colonel's advancement might be sent him
many years before.

The aged artist was, however, hardly able to recognize his beloved
brother.  He soon afterwards became completely childish in mind, and
never again regained his intellectual powers.

[Illustration: EMMA, LADY HAMILTON.]

He died on November 15th, 1802, at the age of sixty-eight, passing
away in the arms of his wife, who devoted herself entirely to him up
to the moment of his death.  She survived him for many years.




LADY HAMILTON

In any consideration of the life and art of George Romney, however
brief, it is impossible to leave out the name of Lady Hamilton, as
she was so constantly painted by him.

It will be well, therefore, for a short section of this little book
to be devoted to a story of the life of this fascinating person, who
was fated to exercise so strong an influence upon the painter.  It is
hardly possible for the most imaginative romancer to tell a story
more chequered in its events, more thrilling in its emotions, and
more sad in its end.

Emma Lyon was the daughter of a smith in Cheshire, a humble man, who
died in 1761, after a very short married life, and left his widow and
infant daughter wholly without support.

The widow moved at once from Neston, where her husband had died, to
Hawarden, her native place, and here by the aid of her relatives,
almost equally poor with herself, she managed to bring up her child
and send her to a dame's school in the village.

When about twelve Emma went as nursery-maid to the family of a Mr.
Thomas, a doctor of Hawarden, whose son afterwards became an eminent
surgeon.

At sixteen she left and came to London, and became housemaid to a
tradesman in St. James's Street; and then later on, probably in 1778,
became nursemaid in the family of another doctor, one Dr. Budd, a
physician in St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

From here she migrated out to the west end, taking a place as
lady's-maid in the house of a lady of fashion whose dwelling was a
favourite resort of the gayest persons of the day, and where she had
ample opportunity of reading as many books as she desired, of
dressing in a style which made her more attractive, and of receiving
a great deal of praise for her beauty and the quality of her voice.

The first slip which she made in her career was occasioned by her
going to plead with Admiral Payne for the release of a cousin who had
been forcibly pressed into the navy, and whose family were, without
his assistance, unprovided for.  Emma undertook this mission out of
good nature and gained her petition; but in return the admiral, who
was much struck by the beauty of her face, became her suitor, and she
entered his house as his mistress.  This life lasted for a very short
time, as a wealthy baronet, Sir Harry Featherston, who visited
Admiral Payne, begged her to leave him and come to Up Park as its
mistress.

The admiral, who was shortly going on board his ship, consented to
part with the fair Emma, who was much attached to her latest lover,
and she went off with Sir Harry to Up Park, where she resided in the
midst of every luxury for some months.  Here she learned to ride on
horseback, and succeeded in attaining to great proficiency in this
accomplishment.

The affection, however, shown her by Sir Harry Featherston, lasted
but a short time, and soon he began to weary of his toy.  He brought
his mistress to London, but was ashamed to let her be seen with him
in public, and so gradually neglected her; and at the end of 1781
they separated, as Emma was not one to put up tamely with neglect,
and was ambitious of yet greater conquests.  They always remained
friends, and corresponded to the end of their days; but another field
of opportunity was now opening, and Emma was ready to avail herself
of it.

The notorious and unscrupulous quack Dr. Graham was at that time in
the height of his fame, and he had opened in 1779 his so-called
Temple of Health in the Adelphi.

He was on the point of removing to more important premises when Emma
Lyon left Up Park, and when, therefore, the Temple of Hymen, as the
new imposture was named, was opened at Schomberg House, Pall Mall, in
the residence afterwards occupied by Richard Cosway, R.A., and by
Gainsborough, it was Emma Lyon who, as Hebe and the model of perfect
beauty, health and happiness, was one of the greatest attractions of
the place.

This wonderful woman, who was so lovely in face and form, and was
withal so graceful in attitude, exhibited herself at the command of
the quack in the most becoming of costumes of light drapery, posing
as a goddess and attracting numerous admirers.  Her beauty drew to
the exhibition many of the noted painters and sculptors of the day,
who were anxious to perpetuate the features and form of the fair
Emma, and to draw her in the attitudes and characters which she so
cleverly assumed.

She had no compunctions as to what character she assumed, whether it
was Venus or a Bacchante, provided that she was admired and received
the praise which was the very breath of her existence.

It was, however, only for a short time that she remained with Dr.
Graham, as Mr. Charles Greville, the second son of the Earl of
Warwick, to whom all her past history was unknown, and who fondly
imagined that she was, as she represented herself to be, a paragon of
virtue, fell deeply in love with her, and after a while gained her
affection in return.

Greville was a man of the most cultivated taste, and he set about the
education of the fair Emma with great zeal, training her in music, in
dancing, in the love of the fine arts, and in the duties and
accomplishments that befitted her new position.

He found out, after a short time, that she loved to be admired, and
was ready to do anything that would obtain for her that
gratification; but so successful was she in retaining her conquest of
the man who appears to have honestly loved her, that for many years
they lived together with considerable apparent affection on both
sides.

When with Greville she sent for her mother, who from that moment and
for some twenty years remained with her, assuming first the name of
Cadogan, and then later on that of Hart, and she conducted herself
with so much propriety that when Greville died he left her an annuity
of £100 per annum.

Emma was now known as Mistress Hart, and it was under that name that
Greville first introduced her to Romney in 1782, when he was himself
sitting to the artist for his portrait.

During all the time when she first sat to Romney she was living with
Greville and was attached to him, and there is absolutely no evidence
whatever that the relationship between her and the artist was any
other than that of a beautiful and accomplished woman sitting to a
clever artist in numerous delightful scenes and characters.

Few works in which she is represented are more beautiful than the
_Circe_, in which her fair girlish form is seen advancing toward the
spectator full of the knowledge of that power of fascination that she
had in so supreme a degree.

In 1784 another set of circumstances came into play.  Greville had
been extravagant in his method of living, and his affairs were
somewhat embarrassed.  He had seen a lady of quality with ample means
whom he had thoughts of marrying; and at this moment his uncle, Sir
William Hamilton, who was Ambassador to the King of Naples, arrived
in London upon a long leave of absence.

Sir William was fascinated by the mistress of his nephew, and a
curious agreement seems to have been entered into between the two
men.  Greville gave up his mistress to his uncle on the understanding
that he took her to Naples, provided securities for the payments of
Greville's debts, and made such arrangements as to his property as
constituted Greville his heir.

Sir William was, on his part, to provide properly for Emma, who, with
her mother, was to follow him to Naples under the excuse that she
might there complete her training in music and singing under his
care, and return to Greville when his means allowed him to provide
for her.

She appears to have left England in complete ignorance that she had
been transferred to Sir William Hamilton, and, from her pathetic
letters to her old lover, to have been most anxious to leave Naples
and return to him.

This was, however, impossible, and Greville, who was, it is clear,
attached in some measure to her, and somewhat ashamed of his part in
the bargain, had to make it clear to her that their connection was at
an end, and that she had better yield to the persuasions of his
uncle.  Eventually she did so, but later on, in 1791, prevailed upon
him to marry her, and they were married at Naples.

He then brought her back to London, as it was needful that she should
be married according to the rites of the Church of England and
presented at Court in order that she should take the position that
was now rightfully hers as the wife of an English ambassador; and
accordingly they were again married, and this time in Marylebone
Church, on September 6th, 1791.

Then again she sat to Romney as _Joan of Arc_, as _Cassandra_ and as
_The Seamstress_, before she returned to Naples as Lady Hamilton.

Into the long history of her life in Naples there is no need to enter
in these pages, nor to relate the story of the attachment which, as
the wife of Sir William Hamilton, she formed for Nelson.  She
exercised great influence and power at Naples during the war, and was
of the greatest assistance to Nelson, who for her sake deserted and
cast off his wife, and entered into a close connection with Lady
Hamilton, who was, it is clear, the mother of his child Horatia.

After the recall of the ambassador when the conduct of his wife had
become notorious, Nelson took up his residence in the same house as
that occupied by the Hamiltons; and when Sir William died in 1802 she
went to reside with Nelson at Merton with the distinct understanding
that so soon as Lady Nelson was dead he would make her his wife.

Nelson, however, died before his wife, and by his will left to Lady
Hamilton certain property; but her extravagant manner of living soon
exhausted her means, and as the nation did nothing of importance for
her, an execution was put in and Merton and all its contents were
sold.  She then retired to a smaller house, and later on to lodgings,
but was arrested for debt; and when she was able to do so she left
the country and went to Calais, where, in 1814, she settled down,
first in a farmhouse and then in apartments.

Her means were by this time greatly reduced, as she had only the
interest of the money settled upon her daughter and the wreck of her
own estate; but, as her daughter stated in later years, although
"certainly under very distressing circumstances, she never
experienced actual want." Her loveliness had left her, the beauty of
her form had given place to corpulence, and it was in distress of
mind and body that she died, attended only by her faithful daughter
and by a rough hired servant, in her lonely apartments in the Rue
Française, Calais, on January 15th, 1815.

She had some years before become a Catholic, and was at the very last
attended by a priest and was buried with full Catholic rites outside
Calais in the cemetery; but the land has for many years ceased to be
used as a burying-place, and all trace of her grave has been lost.
Her daughter survived her, and as the wife of the Rev. P. Ward died
in March, 1881, at the age of eighty-one years.




THE ART OF ROMNEY

Romney is almost exclusively known as a painter of portraits, his
historical scenes attracting but little attention.  In their way they
were remarkable, but they were forced in their conception and
over-sentimental in their design, as was the fashion of the day.  In
his portraits he struck a much truer note and by them his repute will
stand.

It is almost impossible, taking into consideration the time in which
he lived, to avoid comparing him with his great rivals Reynolds and
Gainsborough, and perhaps it is well that it should be so, as by
thinking of him in connection with these two men it will be possible
to obtain a better impression of his capabilities and a knowledge of
his faults.

He was, it is quite certain, a far less important man than
Gainsborough, who must certainly be reckoned as the greatest of the
three.

He lacked the colour sense that distinguished that great artist; he
was by no means his equal in technical merit; and he had no ability
to produce landscape-work that gave so great a charm to the pictures
of the Sudbury artist.

The wonderful poetry that streamed from the brush of Gainsborough and
refined all his works, the delicacy, the grace and the sweetness of
his figures are all superior qualities to those which Romney
possessed, whilst as a colourist Gainsborough stood head and
shoulders above both his rivals.

When we come to draughtsmanship we are, however, on a different
footing, as Romney was the superior both of Reynolds and Gainsborough
in ability to draw with accuracy and truth, and he also surpassed
both of them in the manner in which he obtained his effects.

Where Reynolds laboured Romney achieved the same effect with the
greatest ease and simplicity; and, in fact, the word "simplicity" may
be taken as the key-word in anything like a critical survey of
Romney's work.

He was not so varied as was Reynolds.  His pictures have a certain
monotony about them which is more apparent than real.  It is not that
Romney, as has been unwisely said, made all his women alike, for that
is not so; but the charm that constituted one of the chief merits of
the artist was dependent to a great extent upon tricks of posture,
glance and costume, and, having ascertained what these were, there
was a danger on Romney's part of repeating them.  There is further a
certain monotony about his colouring, as he so greatly favoured the
rich golden browns and deep roses that distinguish his best works.

He was, however, a true artist and could not avoid making his
pictures beautiful.  He had a keen sense of beauty, a passionate love
of warm, rich, sunny colour, and when he came to deal with historical
or dramatic scenes a very powerful imagination; but he was careless
and wasteful of his powers, and was so overwhelmed with commissions
that he did not put his best work into many of the pictures that he
painted.  They, however, always charm, and they are always pleasing
and generally poetic, although they are in other respects very
frequently open to grave criticism.

There are instances in which his ability reaches a very high plane.
Some of his portrait figures are really sublime, and the superb
dignity of such portraits as those of Lady Hamilton as _Circe_ and
_Cassandra_ will not be easy to exceed.

Other important characteristics of this great artist were his love of
children and his ability to paint them in all their brisk childish
humour.  The delicious piquancy of the bright little faces, so full
of charm, delight all who behold them, and there is also an
irresistible grace and sweetness about the figures of his children
that is very noteworthy.

Mark how cleverly he depicts motion, how easily in the Stafford and
Clavering groups of children the young people move, and in what
graceful attitudes the artist has represented them.  They hardly
touch the ground as they gracefully glide around through the figures
of the mazy dance, and the happiness of their faces and the grace of
their postures are alike most charming.

Romney had a very real sense of grace.  His ideas were circumscribed
by the fashion for classic attire which ruled the day, and the
delight which his sitters had in being represented, not in their
usual garb and posture, but as some goddess or mythological creation,
and clothed in the robes of Greece or Rome.

[Illustration: CHILDREN DANCING IN A RING: PORTRAITS OF MEMBERS OF
THE STAFFORD FAMILY.]

Whatever position or costume, however, he adopted, it was always
graceful, refined and decorous; but some of his sweetest pictures
were those where the simplest of gowns and the most natural of
attitudes were selected, as, for example, _The Seamstress_.

Lady Hamilton, by her ingenuity in placing herself in the most
becoming and graceful of attitudes, and by the marvellous power of
expression that she possessed, enabling her to show in her
countenance the very thoughts of the creation that she was
representing, delighted Romney, and over and over again he posed her
in various ways, and painted with increasing delight her lovely face.

She, who lived upon adulation, and desired above all that her beauty
should be admired, was never tired of sitting to the artist who above
all men had the desire and the power to express her features in their
wonderful sweetness, and so the memory of the graceful sitter and
clever artist are handed down together.

There is no doubt that the fame alike of sitter and artist served to
make more popular the Grecian style of costume seen in the pictures,
and so served to banish the more formal long-waisted style of dress
that had been so popular a short time before.  Classic ideas became
more and more the vogue, and to the grace of the drapery is to be
attributed some of the charm of the pictures.  Once this was realized
it was not easy for the artist to alter his original suggestion, and
all the great ladies of the day had to be painted in the style that
suited Lady Hamilton, but was not bound to suit the different styles
of beauty of those who desired to follow her example and be painted
by the fashionable artist.

One of the great advantages which the portraits of Romney have over
those of Reynolds consists in the fact that the colours in them have
stood the test of time.  Even in Reynolds's own time the colours were
beginning to fly from many of his works, and it is recorded that,
having displeased the great connoisseur Horace Walpole, by some
disparaging remarks upon a picture of Henry VII. that had been shown
to the President, Walpole had his revenge by saying that Sir Joshua
was not very likely to admire any picture in which the colours had
stood.

Even Hayley, addressing Sir Joshua in poetry, desires him to "teach
but thy transient tints no more to fly," and so draws attention thus
early to what is the great blemish of the art of the President.

Romney avoided the constant experiments which were the bane of his
great rival.  Reynolds was never satisfied with the result that he
obtained, but desired something finer and richer, and he was
therefore always experimenting with new media, fresh colours and
subtle underpainting, in order to produce some unusually brilliant
effect.  Romney was of far simpler mind.  He was able to obtain all
the effect he desired in the plainest and most simple means, and,
having found a scheme of colouring which delighted him and a
technique which he considered sufficient, he rested content.

The use by Reynolds of such ephemeral colours as lake and carmine in
his flesh tints had no attraction for Romney.  He was never bitten
with the desire which characterized the President to use bitumen or
asphaltum in his backgrounds and shadows, or to employ wax in his
medium; and by the avoidance of all these pitfalls he was able to
secure for his colours that quality of secure tenure which those used
by the President so lacked.

Doubtless the search by the President after greater excellence was a
characteristic in his favour, and the regular method adopted by his
rival was not so praiseworthy, but the result has been to the
satisfaction of the present generation; and where the works of
Reynolds are but wrecks of what they once were (especially in the
early and middle parts of his career), albeit they are notable
wrecks, those of Romney are as fresh to-day as when first painted.

There is also, it must be acknowledged, a greater force and
brilliance in the faces of Romney's sitters than in those of Reynolds.

The President loved to express the aristocratic composure, the deep
thoughtfulness, the calm placidity of many of his fair women, and the
dignity, reserve and autocracy of the men of the day; but Romney's
faces are more piquant, more brilliant, full of action in many
instances, and running over with life and delight.

His colouring, as has already been noted, is very frequently the rich
harmony of gold and brown with flushes of full rose in which he so
delighted; but he was not afraid of painting the primary colours when
it was desirable that he should do so, and in one of the National
Gallery pictures this capability can be well seen.

There is a melting quality, a charming manner of soft modelling that
is also characteristic, an agreeable manner by which each colour
composes itself into its adjacent tint without any hardness of
outline; but even this suavity could be replaced by a certain hard,
even rugged force, if desirable, and the picture just mentioned will
also represent this harshness of outline.

On the whole he possessed to an unusual degree the power to thrill
and to delight.  His pictures are melodious, charming, graceful.  His
grouping is delightful and expressive of the highest genius; his
draperies are simply and slightly painted; while the modelling of the
features is full of consummate dexterity.

He attached great importance to the painting of fingers and hands,
and gave much expression to them.  His faces are quiet, and have
often a look of the deepest pathos about them, a look which even
approaches to melancholy; but, on the other hand, the sprightliness
of youthful joy was well expressed by him, and if in a phrase his
qualities are to be summed up, they may be so by the words "grace,
melody, sunshine and sweetness."




OUR ILLUSTRATIONS

From the National Gallery we have selected two: a portrait of Mrs.
Mark Currie and the portrait called _The Parson's Daughter_.

_Mrs. Mark Currie_ represents a life-size, nearly full-length figure.
The lady is dressed in a simple white muslin dress with short
sleeves, and an elaborate _fichu_ of the same material.  Round her
waist is a silk sash of pale red, and the ribbons which trim her
sleeves and _fichu_ are of the same pale tint.  Her fair hair,
slightly powdered, falls in full clusters around her shapely
shoulders.

Her face wears a quiet thoughtful expression, with a lurking look of
humour about the eyes.  The background is slightly suggested
landscape and trees.

The lady was a Miss Elizabeth Close, who married Mr. Mark Currie, a
goldsmith and banker, in January, 1789, and gave her first sitting
for the portrait on the 7th of May of the same year.

[Illustration: MRS. MARK CURRIE.]

It is not known whom _The Parson's Daughter_ represents, nor why it
bears that name.

It is a very charming circular portrait of a young lady with dark
eyes and auburn hair, which is powdered and bound with a green
ribbon.  She wears a brown dress and white handkerchief.

The modelling on the face is very dexterously painted, and the tender
thoughtful expression of the dark eyes quite beautiful.

The hair is painted in very broad, powerful fashion, and the
draperies over the bust indicated lightly and put on with a wonderful
sliding movement which is notable.  On the whole Romney seldom did a
more pleasing piece of work than the portrait of this quiet and
refined dainty girl.


_The Clavering Children_, which we have the special permission of the
owner (Rev. J. W. Napier-Clavering) to reproduce, is a very happy
example of Romney's ability to depict children in movement and to
give the effect of rapid motion.

Mark how lightly the two children tread the ground, with what easy
step they move forward, seeming to come right out of the canvas
towards the spectator.  Notice how the scarf, which forms part of the
dress of the girl, streams out in the wind, and see how lightly and
with what a graceful movement the lad holds in the two dogs.

Romney was at his very best in this delightful group.  The faces of
both boy and girl are painted with unusual care, the clear eyes of
the manly lad seeming to look right into the spectator; while the
downcast lids of the girl's face serve but to reveal through their
clear semi-transparency the brown eyes which they hide.

Much attention has in this work been given to the hands, which Romney
rightly believed were indicative of character.  The grasp of the
sturdy fingers of the boy contrasts well with the long slender
fingers which grasp the dog in loving embrace, and the same pleasing
idea of divergence can be seen in the modelling of the faces and in
the posture and shape of the feet.  The dogs are painted in very
natural positions: the darker spaniel, which is leaping up to the
lad, is evidently in a favourite posture and full of enthusiasm
towards his young master; while the tiny puppy which the girl hugs to
her breast, and which the parent dog is most anxious to have back
again into her care, is a fat little comic beast, quite young, and
very ready to be caressed.

[Illustration: THOMAS JOHN CLAVERING, AFTERWARDS EIGHTH BARONET, AND
HIS SISTER, CATHERINE MARY.]

The scene has no studio atmosphere about it.  It was clearly
unpremeditated, and has been happily seized by the artist at the
right moment and perpetuated in this work.  There is no elaborate
underpainting in this picture, all the effects of it being obtained
in the simplest manner.  The sky and ground afford a sufficient foil
in the way of scenery, and the two children come dancing towards the
person who looks at the picture with the most artless grace and
charm, attended as they are by their canine companions.

The boy was afterwards Sir Thomas John Clavering, the eighth baronet,
of Axwell Park, where the family still reside, and was the grand-son
of the sixth baronet, Sir James.  He was born in 1771, married in
1791, succeeded his uncle in the family estates and title, and died
in 1853.  His sister, Catherine Mary, died unmarried in 1785.

The picture is a large one, as the figures are life-size, and it has
been engraved; and hardly any of the works of Romney is more worthy
of praise than this vivacious and graceful creation.


The wonderful eyes which distinguished the features of _Lady
Hamilton_ can be well appreciated in the portrait which we give from
the National Portrait Gallery.  The face is not altogether a pleasing
one.  It reveals some of the desire to fascinate which distinguished
the lady's character.

There is a purpose in the gaze which these eyes extend to the
observer, and the attitude, although intended to be a natural one, is
quite evidently studied and assumed.  It is intended to give full
play to the face and eyes, and to reveal the graceful curves of the
arms and the slender beauty of the fingers.  The very roundness of
the face is accentuated against the angles of the fingers in their
half-closed position, and there is a studied grace in the arrangement
of the draperies and in the muslin bands which form the head-dress.
In all these respects it is a fitting representation of the famous
beauty, who in a less natural pose would not have so amply revealed
her power of charm.

The painting of the features with all their delicate and slight
modelling is a triumphant success, and the eyes, which burn down into
the very consciousness of the spectator, are superbly represented.
The picture, small as it is, and showing but little of the graceful
form, is yet a masterpiece, and is a delineation of character
unsurpassed in its effect by any other portrait by the same hand.


There is in the Wallace Gallery an interesting _Portrait of Mrs.
Robinson_, the beautiful actress, in the character of Perdita, the
daughter of Leontes in "The Winter's Tale," which she made so
peculiarly her own.

Mrs. Robinson first took the part in the performance on December 3rd,
1779, at Drury Lane, in the presence of their Majesties King George
III. and Queen Charlotte, and also before the youthful Prince of
Wales, whose affection was afterwards to have such an effect upon her
life.

She was at that time just over twenty-one years old, married to a man
who systematically insulted and neglected her and spent his time with
the lowest and most degraded of the women of his acquaintance.  The
Prince of Wales was in his eighteenth year, very susceptible, and he
was at once attracted by this lovely woman, little more than a girl,
who acted superbly and with such artless grace.  In this way an
acquaintance was commenced, Viscount Malden being employed as an
intermediary, and ripened into a closer affection.

She, however, hardly met the Prince until he had his separate
establishment in Buckingham House, as during the time when he lived
at Kew he was kept under the strictest regulations.  From the 1st of
January, 1781, he was, however, his own master, and Mrs. Robinson
shared his establishment, and was at the height of her beauty and
position.

The attachment only continued for some two years, when the Prince,
having vowed perpetual devotion to his Perdita, and made her many
presents and more promises, suddenly transferred his affection to
Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott and absented himself from Mrs. Robinson.

He paid no attention to her misery, nor in any way assisted her in
her distress, though he had given her a bond for £20,000 when she
quitted the theatre at his desire to live with him.  She eventually,
however, obtained, through Charles James Fox, an annuity of £500 a
year, and devoted herself to literature.

She had a very devoted daughter who lived with her, and in the
presence of this daughter she died in December, 1800, and was buried
at Old Windsor by her own particular desire.

In the picture in the Wallace Gallery she is represented in the
walking costume which she assumed when she played the part of
Perdita, wearing a handsome lace bonnet and carrying a huge muff.
The face is one of peculiar sweetness, and the eyes have an arch
look, mingled with thoughtful pathos, which is peculiarly attractive.

The face is wonderfully painted, the modelling being subtle and very
dexterous; while the harmony of the whole work is most noticeable.
The picture is one of Romney's most successful works in its charm of
colour and sweetness of expression.


The remaining three of our illustrations are taken from the gallery
of the Duke of Sutherland at Trentham, and are reproduced by kind
permission of their noble owner, and of his Grace's representative,
Mr. Bagguley.

The chief of the three is the important portrait group of _Children
dancing in a Ring_, one of the most famous groups that Romney ever
executed.  The tall lady with the tambourine is Lady Anne
Leveson-Gower, third daughter of the Earl Gower who afterwards became
first Marquess of Stafford, by his second wife, Lady Louisa Egerton.
She became eventually the wife of Vernon Harcourt, Archbishop of York.

The four dancing children are her step-sisters and step-brother, the
children of the earl by his third wife, Lady Susan Stewart--the
Ladies Georgiana, Charlotte, and Susan Leveson-Gower, who became
respectively Lady G. Eliot, the Duchess of Beaufort, and the Countess
of Harrowby.  The young lad is Lord Granville Leveson-Gower,
afterwards elevated to the peerage as the first Earl Granville, the
father of the late well-known statesman of the same name.

The picture is a charming example of the skill of the artist, both in
expressing lightness and grace in attitude, and also in power of
grouping and composition.  The children are moving with the utmost
daintiness and freedom, and are all of them admirably well drawn.

The tall figure is, if anything, a little too tall, but adds dignity
to the group, while the artless expression on the faces of the girls
is beyond praise.  There is a peculiar sweetness and happiness in the
faces of all the little ones, and they are evidently in full
enjoyment of health and spirits, and have no feeling of formal
grouping or stilted posing about them.

[Illustration: GEORGE GRANVILLE, SECOND MARQUESS OF STAFFORD AND
FIRST DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.]

The colour scheme is delightful.  The white dress of the tall sister
and of the boy, with the same hue in the columns, is charmingly
contrasted with the green, plum colour and red of the other dresses,
and with the increase of colour that the scarves of brown and purple
give.  All is harmony and grace without artifice, and the technique
of the picture is of the very simplest order.


As an example of dignity and restraint, the _Portrait of George
Granville_ will be appreciated.  He was the eldest son of the same
Earl Gower who afterwards in his turn became second Marquess of
Stafford and then first Duke of Sutherland.  He was, of course, the
brother of the tall girl with the tambourine in the last picture.

By his marriage with the lady who was Countess of Sutherland in her
own right, he became a person of vast importance and the owner of
enormous estates, which he managed admirably and laid the foundation
for the position now occupied by his successors.

He stands quietly before the spectator, dressed in a yellow silk
jacket with deep lace collar and cuffs, has a red robe thrown over
his shoulders, and bears in his hand his gray hat with black feathers.

It is well to mark the extreme care with which the hand of the young
aristocrat is painted, and how expressive it is--perhaps as much as
the serious and somewhat haughty face--of the position and influence
of the lad.

There is a composure and a stateliness in this portrait which are a
sure index to the mind of the young nobleman, and few painters could
so well have represented the mind of his sitter as Romney has done in
this work.  The child was assuredly father to the man, and thus early
he foreshadowed in his features the calm dignity, reserve and power
which in after life distinguished him as Duke.


The third portrait is that of his wife, generally known as the
_Countess-Duchess of Sutherland_.

Elizabeth was the only daughter and surviving child of the
seventeenth and last Earl of Sutherland, and became, on the death of
her father, Countess in her own right.  Her mother was a great
beauty, and she inherited all the exquisite features and charm of
that parent, who died in the same year as the Earl of Sutherland,
placing this bright girl, at the tender age of two years, in
possession of the vast estates and the title of the earldom.  Her
beauty attracted the loyalty of all her tenants to her, and Sir
Walter Scott records many a story of her charm and kindness.

The portrait records her appearance soon after she was married, when
somewhat more than twenty years of age, and in the heyday of her
sweet and thoughtful beauty.  She is dressed in white and gold, her
dark brown hair tied with ribbon, the background being foliage and a
distant landscape.

There is all the effect of power, dignity and determination about the
mouth and eyes; the face is a distinct oval, the form rather thin and
slight, and the composure of the expression very marked.  It is a
striking portrait of a beautiful girl of high lineage and important
position, and is a triumph of art as a portrait which is at once
lovely in itself and a delineation of the mind of the person who is
depicted in it.




THE CHIEF WORKS OF ROMNEY


NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.

Study of Lady Hamilton as a Bacchante, about 1786.  (312)

The Parson's Daughter.  A portrait.  A circular bust portrait of a
young lady.  See page 45.  (1068)

Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Lindow.  A life-size group.  Bought in
1893.  Strong in colour, and more definite and hard than is the
artist's usual manner.  (1396)

Portrait of Mrs. Mark Currie.  A portrait of a lady seated on a
terrace.  See page 44.  Painted in May, 1789.  Romney received sixty
guineas for this picture, which was bought for a very large sum by
the Trustees from the family in 1897.  (1651)

Portrait of a Lady and Child.  (1667)


NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON.

Portrait of Wm. Cowper, the poet.

Portrait of R. Cumberland, the dramatist.

Portrait of John Flaxman, R.A., designer and sculptor, represented
modelling the bust of his friend Hayley, author of "The Triumphs of
Temper," whose son, T. A. Hayley, is also introduced as a spectator.
The son was a pupil of Flaxman.

Portrait of Lady Hamilton.  A half-length, resting her elbows on the
table, and with her face turned somewhat to the right.  See page 47.

Portrait of James Harris, M.P. for Christchurch, a writer of
treatises on art, music, painting and poetry, and of other works.
His son became Earl of Malmesbury.

Portrait of the artist himself, unfinished.  It was done in 1782, and
bought at Miss Romney's sale in 1894.


THE WALLACE GALLERY, LONDON.

Portrait of Mrs. Robinson, the actress, in her favourite character of
Perdita.  See page 49. (37)


ROYAL INSTITUTION, LIVERPOOL.

A series of fine cartoons by the artist.


BIRMINGHAM ART GALLERY

A portrait of Lady Holte.


The foregoing represent the chief works of the artist that are in
public and accessible galleries; but the greatest works still remain
in private hands, and many of them are from time to time exhibited in
London and the provinces.

Amongst notable collections may be mentioned that of the Duke of
Sutherland, in which are the portraits of Elizabeth, Duchess of
Sutherland, the second Marquess of Stafford, the five children of the
Earl of Sutherland dancing in a ring, and the Countess of Carlisle.
See pages 51-55.

The Rev. J. W. Napier-Clavering also owns some of the choicest works
of Romney, namely, Maria Margaret Clavering, afterwards Lady Napier,
Colonel Thomas Thornton, and the delightful group of Sir Thomas
Clavering and his sister.  See page 45.

Mr. Lockett Agnew owns the portraits of Miss Hay, Miss Leyborne
Popham with her dog, Miss Popham, Lady Mary Parkhurst and Mr. Charles
Parkhurst, all of them important pictures.

The Marquess of Lansdowne has the portraits of Lord Henry Petty and
of Lady Louisa Fitzpatrick, both fine works, besides others of lesser
importance; and other fine portraits belong to Mr. Beebe, Mr. R.
Biddulph Martin, who has two, Sir Cuthbert Quilter, who has the
splendid portrait of Mrs. Jordan, Sir Edward Newdigate-Newdegate,
whose portrait of Lady Newdigate is well known, and Mr. Makins.

Other portraits belong to Earl Granville, Lord de Tabley, the Earl of
Cawdor, the Earl of Normanton, Lord Berwick, Lord Thurlow, and to
several members of the Rothschild family.




SOME OF THE CHIEF BOOKS ON ROMNEY


"George Romney and His Art," by Hilda Gamlin, 1894.

"Romney and Lawrence," by Lord Ronald Sutherland-Gower, 1882.

"Memoirs of Lady Hamilton," annotated by Long, 1891.

"Lady Hamilton," by Hilda Gamlin, 1894.

Cunningham's "Painters," 1879.

"Illustrated Catalogue of a Collection of Portraits exhibited at
Birmingham in 1900."

"Memoirs of Romney," by Hayley, 1809.

"Memoirs of Romney," by his son, the Rev. John Romney, 1830.

The Catalogues of the Romney Exhibition in the Grafton Galleries in
1900 and 1901, with Notes by Nash.

"The Life of Mrs. Robinson," by Molloy, 1894.




CHRONOLOGY

1734.  Birth of Romney.

1756.  His marriage.

1757.  His indenture cancelled.

1762.  He starts for London.

1763.  Paints _The Death of General Wolfe_ for a premium offered by
the Society of Arts.

1764.  Journey to France.

1773.  Journey to Italy, notably to Rome.

1775.  Settled in Cavendish Square.

1782.  First met Mistress Hart, afterwards Lady Hamilton.

1797.  Removed to Hampstead.

1799.  Returns to his wife.

1802.  His death.



  CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
  TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.






  Bell's Miniature Series of Painters.

  Edited by G. C. WILLIAMSON, Litt.D.

  _Pott 8vo, with 8 Illustrations, issued in cloth or in
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  ALMA TADEMA. By H. Zimmern.
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  GAINSBOROUGH. By Mrs. Arthur Bell.
  GREUZE. By Harold Armitage.
  HOGARTH. By G. Elliot Anstruther.
  HOLBEIN. By Arthur B. Chamberlain.
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