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Lot Essay
These exquisite, circular oil sketches are exceedingly rare examples of works on panel by George Romney, whose only other known painting on wood, Hand Holding a Letter, was made at the outset of his career in Kendal in 1757.
The Grenville Sisters is a diminutive version of the portrait of Hester (1760-1847) and Catherine (1761-1796), the daughters of George Grenville of Wotton, Buckinghamshire (1712-1770), painted by Romney in rectangular format in 1780-81, though it remained in the artist’s hands until the late 1790s (Private collection, Cornwall; A. Kidson, George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London, 2015, II, p. 839, no. 1815, illustrated). The marriage of the younger sister, Catherine, took place in June 1780 and it is likely that the large-scale portrait was commissioned to celebrate the occasion. The bride is depicted at left and extends her proper right hand to catch a nuptial refreshment poured by her sister.
Venus and Adonis explores a composition distinct from the version of the subject on canvas sold by Puttick & Simpson on 18 June 1924, now untraced (op. cit., III, p. 839, no. 1815, illustrated): while in both sketches, the figure of Venus curves from left to right over her seated lover, in the canvas, the arms of both figures are extended and two putti bend their heads over a mirror at left, by contrast, in the present panel, Adonis draws up his knees and is enveloped in Venus’ arms in a shape both more mournful and more suited to the format of a roundel. They are not dissimilar in technique and sensibility.
We are grateful to Alex Kidson for endorsing the attribution on the basis of a photograph.
The Grenville Sisters is a diminutive version of the portrait of Hester (1760-1847) and Catherine (1761-1796), the daughters of George Grenville of Wotton, Buckinghamshire (1712-1770), painted by Romney in rectangular format in 1780-81, though it remained in the artist’s hands until the late 1790s (Private collection, Cornwall; A. Kidson, George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London, 2015, II, p. 839, no. 1815, illustrated). The marriage of the younger sister, Catherine, took place in June 1780 and it is likely that the large-scale portrait was commissioned to celebrate the occasion. The bride is depicted at left and extends her proper right hand to catch a nuptial refreshment poured by her sister.
Venus and Adonis explores a composition distinct from the version of the subject on canvas sold by Puttick & Simpson on 18 June 1924, now untraced (op. cit., III, p. 839, no. 1815, illustrated): while in both sketches, the figure of Venus curves from left to right over her seated lover, in the canvas, the arms of both figures are extended and two putti bend their heads over a mirror at left, by contrast, in the present panel, Adonis draws up his knees and is enveloped in Venus’ arms in a shape both more mournful and more suited to the format of a roundel. They are not dissimilar in technique and sensibility.
We are grateful to Alex Kidson for endorsing the attribution on the basis of a photograph.