Portrait of a lady, possibly Lady Emma Hamilton, a sketch

The present work appears to be an unfinished study or sketch for a three-quarter-length portrait of a lady, probably the artist's most frequent sitter, Lady Emma Hamilton. These fancy pictures of Emma fall somewhere between creative portraiture and routine society portraiture. Romney first met and became infatuated with the beautiful and uneducated adventuress, Emma Lyon (1761?-1815) - later known as Emma Hart and Lady Hamilton - in 1782 when she was brought to his studio by her lover, Charles Greville and she became the inspiration for much of his subsequent work. She became the model for a series of fancy pictures and he cast her in a variety of roles and guises including Titania, Joan of Arc, Cassandra, Miranda, Calypso and a Bacchante.

The present work is one of four unfinished studies or sketches by Romney, that by family tradition, were acquired from Lord Duveen for the 'Romney Room' at the Davison estate at Peacock Point on the North Shore of Long Island (see fig. 1). Another of the works from this room, Portrait of a Gentleman, said to be William Hayley (1745-1820), standing three-quarter-length, a sketch was sold at Christie's, New York, 22 May 1998, lot 95 ($63,000).