George Romney, uno de los retratistas más célebres de su época, se labró una reputación gracias a sus representaciones elegantes y expresivas de la alta sociedad británica de finales del siglo XVIII. Nacido en 1734 en Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, Romney entró como aprendiz del artista local Christopher Steele en 1755. En 1757 abandonó el aprendizaje para establecer su propio estudio en Kendal.
George Romney comenzó a labrarse un nombre gracias a sus retratos de la aristocracia local. Sin embargo, su corazón estaba puesto en Londres, adonde se trasladó en 1762. En Londres, Romney se ganó el patrocinio de la élite británica, siendo especialmente popular entre las mujeres de la alta sociedad. Su reputación rivalizaba con la de Sir Joshua Reynolds y Thomas Gainsborough. El estilo de Romney se caracterizaba por una aguda observación del carácter, que combinaba con una refinada elegancia en la composición y el color.
En 1872, George Romney conoció a Emma Hamilton, quien se convertiría en una de las mayores musas del artista. A Romney le atraía su belleza única, que combinaba los rasgos esculturales de la escultura griega antigua con el aire rubenesco de su exuberante cabello castaño. Entre 1782 y 1786, Hamilton posó para Romney más de 100 veces, lo que dio lugar a más de 60 cuadros inspirados en ella o en los que ella era el elemento definitorio a lo largo de su relación. Romney pintó a Hamilton en cuatro categorías principales: composiciones de la vida real, alegorías personificadas de una sola figura y temas mitológicos o religiosos.
La obra de Romney también incluye numerosos dibujos, muchos de e , que sirvieron de estudios para sus obras de mayor formato. Estos dibujos de George Romney revelan su meticuloso enfoque de la composición y su exploración de diferentes poses y expresiones, lo que permite conocer mejor su proceso creativo. Sus dibujos destacan por su fluidez y por la capacidad del artista para transmitir un parecido con un mínimo de trazos.
En 1799, Romney regresó a Kendal y con la familia que había dejado atrás para dedicarse a su carrera en Londres hasta su muerte en 1802. Su impresionante obra abarca unas 2.000 pinturas y 5.000 dibujos, que se conservan en colecciones privadas y públicas de todo el mundo, incluida la National Portrait Gallery de Londres.
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Group portrait of Dorothy Stables (1753-1832), with her daughters, Harriet (1774-1827) and Maria (1775-1821), in a wooded landscape
George Romney, R.A. (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Elizabeth Ramus (1751-1848), daughter of Nicholas Ramus and subsequently wife of Baron de Nougal, half-length, in a pink dress with gold trim and a green shawl, her hair tied with a gold-embroidered white muslin scarf
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait of Mrs Deborah Jemima Maxwell (1755-1789), full-length, in a pale pink dress with a blue sash and a yellow wrap, in a wooded landscape
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait of Dorothy Stables (1753-1832), seated, with her two daughters, Harriet (1774-1827) and Maria (1775-1821), in a wooded landscape
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Richard Newman Harding (1756-1808), full length, in a pink coat and breeches, with a dog in a wooded landscape
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734 - Kendal, Cumbria 1802)
Portrait of Mrs Moody (c.1767-1820), second wife of Samuel Moody, three-quarter-length, in a white dress trimmed with pink bows and a pink sash, holding a dog in her lap, in a landscape
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of Elizabeth, Lady Bentinck, née Cumberland (1760-1837), half-length, in a white dress and hat with a blue ribbon
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait of Mary Lowther, née Forsyth (c.1760-1830), half-length in a black gown and ribboned hat
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of Henrietta, Lady Smith, née Dodsworth (1736-1795), three-quarter length, playing a lute
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
Portrait of a lady and a child, traditionally identified as Mrs Cumberland and her son, Charles, half-length, in a white dress and bonnet
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Lady Emma Hamilton, as Cassandra, half length, in a white robe, a laurel wreath crowning her head
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Double portrait of two siblings, three-quarter-length, in white dresses and a red and pink sash, in a landscape
George Romney (near Dalton-in-Furness, Lancs. 1734-Kendal, Cumbria 1802)
Portrait of Mrs Agnes Ainslie (1761-1796) and her son Henry (1786-1814), three-quarter-length, she in a white dress and mob-cap tied with a pink ribbon, holding a fob watch, the child in a white dress with a pink sash and white cap
GEORGE ROMNEY, R.A. (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of a lady, seated, three-quarter-length, in a landscape, traditionally identified as Anne, Countess of Clare (1766-1844)
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancs 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of General Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsay (1744-1818), half-length, in the uniform of the Grenadier guards
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal)
The Dream of Atossa
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
A sketchbook of 1791-2 including: Sketches for Macbeth: The cavern Scene; Macbeth: The Banquet Scene ; John Howard visiting a Lazaretto ; Newton and the Prism ; Landscape Studies; Studies for portraits; Studies of the head of an older man (possibly a self-portrait); Studies of a standing child; Studies of a reclining woman, possibly Iphigenia and her attendant spied on by Cymon ; Studies of a standing female figure with arm raised, possibly a study for Lady Hamilton as Cassandra or as Joan of Arc ; Studies of an initiation scene; Studies of couples meeting by a cottage; Studies of a dancing group; Studies of a male figure reaching down to embrace his infant child; A seated female figure with an attendant embracing a corpse, possibly related to the lost painting Susan when the seas are roaring ; and Sketches of an exotic figure in a robe
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Francis Lind (1752/3-1840), three-quarter-length, seated at a window, a one-keyed Simpson ivory flute in his right hand
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait of Mrs Susannah Whatman (1756-1828), née Bosanquet, half-length, in a painted oval
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait of Pamela, later Lady Edward Fitzgerald (?1773-1831), bust-length
GEORGE ROMNEY, R.A. (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of Sir Thomas Frankland, 6th Bt. (1750-1831), half-length, in profile
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of Captain John Stables (1743⁄4-1795), three-quarter length, in East India Company uniform holding a talwar sword
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal)
Prometheus Bound
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancs 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Mrs John Gathorne, half-length, in a silver gown, her left elbow resting on a table
George Romney, R.A. (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Mrs Mary Moody ( c . 1767-1820), wife of Samuel Moody, three-quarter-length, in a landscape
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of George Morewood (1720-1792) of Alfreton Park, Derbyshire, full-length, in a green suit with a walking stick
George Romney, R.A. (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of a lady, half-length, in a white dress, unfinished
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
Portrait of a gentleman seated, full-length, a table beside him
George Romney, R.A. (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Alicia Dundas, Lady Wedderburn (1754-1831), half-length
GEORGE ROMNEY, R.A. (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of Miss Williams, bust-length, in a painted oval
George Romney, R.A. (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of a girl, traditionally identified as Lady Charlotte Stanley (1776-1805); and Portrait of Edward (1775-1851), Lord Stanley, later 13th Earl of Derby, both bust-length
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
Portrait of John Mills, half-length
Attributed to George Romney, R.A. (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
Portrait of Edward Wortley, Lord Montagu
George Romney (near Dalton-in-Furness, Lancs. 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria )
Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton (1765-1815), bust-length
George Romney (near Dalton-in-Furness, Lancs. 1734-Kendal, Cumbria 1802)
Portrait of Hester, Countess of Clanricarde (d. 1803), half-length, in a red dress and a black, lace-trimmed wrap
CIRCLE OF GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Head of Miranda
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Lady Laetitia à Court, half-length, in a white muslin dress with satin bows
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait of a lady, traditionally identified as Miss Mildred Stewart Wright, three-quarter length, leaning on a balustrade, pointing to a sundial
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of James Cross of Clifton, Bristol (?1739-1791), three-quarter-length, at a table with a landscape beyond
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
Portrait of Colin Dunlop of Carmyle, Provost of Glasgow, seated, three-quarter-length
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria)
Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton, bust-length
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of Lady Alicia Wedderburn, née Dundas (1754-1831), half-length
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Study for Milton and his daughters – en brunaille
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait of Mrs William Maguire, seated, half-length, in a white dress and fichu, a landscape beyond
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
A sketchbook of 12 sheets, rebound in a modern marbled paper binding, with new additional sheets at each end, including studies for: Portrait of Mrs Jackson; Melancholy; Portrait of Mrs Yeats; The Warren Family
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
A seated woman and other studies
GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS, LANCASHIRE 1734-1802 KENDAL, CUMBRIA)
Portrait of George Henry Fitzroy (1760-1844), Earl of Euston, later 4th Duke of Grafton, three-quarter-length, in a black coat, with a landscape beyond
George Romney (near Dalton-in-Furness, Lancs. 1734-1802 Kendal, Cumbria )
Portrait of a young girl, bust-length, in a white dress
George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734-1802 Kendal)
Portrait study of the Rev. William Atkinson, half-length, wearing a broad-brimmed hat
George Romney (1718-1792)
The infant Shakespeare nursed by Tragedy and Comedy