- George Romney (painter)
George Romney (
December 26 ,1734 –November 15 ,1802 ) was a noted Englishportrait painter.Early life and education
He was born in Beckside in
Dalton-in-Furness ,Lancashire (now part of Cumbria) and after attending school at Dendron until age eleven was apprenticed to his father as a cabinet-maker. In 1755 he went toKendal to learn painting from a Cumberland artist by the name of Christopher Steele.Work
By 1757 he was becoming well-known as a portraitist. He fell ill during his apprenticeship and was nursed back to health by Mary Abbott, daughter of his landlady.
In 1762, by which time he was married with two children, he went to
London , and saw early success with a painting, "The Death of General Wolfe" which won a prize from theRoyal Society of Arts . Romney soon had a thriving portrait business in Long Acre.Romney was invited to join the newly-formed
Royal Academy but refused to resign from another artistic society, violating the Academy's exclusive membership rules.In 1773 he travelled toItaly with fellow artistOzias Humphrey to study art inRome andParma , returning to London in 1775 to resume business, this time in Cavendish Square (in a house formerly owned by noted portraitistFrancis Cotes ). In 1782 he metEmma Hamilton (then called Emma Hart) who became his muse. He painted over 60 portraits of her in various poses, sometimes playing the part of historical or mythological figures. [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/romneyg/emmageorge.asp] He also painted many other contemporaries, including fellow artistMary Moser . After an absence of almost forty years, he returned to his family inKendal in the summer of 1799. He was greeted by his loyal, devoted and unquestioning wife.George Romney is a kinsman of Mitt Romney, U.S politician. [ [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/search/AF/pedigree_view.asp?recid=1874486&familyid=230671&frompage=99 AF Pedigree View Page ] ] [ [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/search/AF/pedigree_view.asp?recid=1330042&familyid=78859&frompage=99 AF Pedigree View Page ] ] [ [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/search/AF/pedigree_view.asp?recid=6362174&familyid=1472697&frompage=99 AF Pedigree View Page ] ] [ [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/search/AF/family_group_record.asp?familyid=1472698&frompage=99 Family Group Record - Ancestral File ] ] [ [http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/search/AF/individual_record.asp?recid=6362184&frompage=99 Individual Record ] ] [http://books.google.com/books?id=2VT3aCo2j-gC&pg=PA229&lpg=PA229&dq=He+was+the+third+of+the+eleven+children+of+John+Romney+and+Anne+Simpson&source=web&ots=rrw7rF2276&sig=pqJvteRPuy7IL0_BKso4uN2pwn0]Public collections of works
Abbot Hall Art Gallery (Kendal, UK), theAckland Art Museum (University of North Carolina), the Art Gallery of the University of Rochester (New York), theArt Institute of Chicago , theAshmolean Museum (University of Oxford), theBeaverbrook Art Gallery (New Brunswick), theBlanton Museum of Art (University of Texas, Austin), Brigham Young University Museum of Art (Utah), theCarnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh), theCourtauld Institute of Art (London), theCrawford Municipal Art Gallery (Ireland), theDetroit Institute of Arts ,Dulwich Picture Gallery (London), Falmouth Art Gallery (England), theFine Arts Museums of San Francisco , theFitzwilliam Museum (University of Cambridge),Dalton Castle (England), theRobert Hull Fleming Museum (University of Vermont)cite web
url=http://www.uvm.edu/~fleming/index.php?category=collection&page=slide&id=1953.9
title=Miss Anna Seward
accessdate=2008-07-14
publisher=University of Vermont] , theFrick Collection (New York City), theGetty Museum (Los Angeles),Harvard University Art Museums , theHermitage Museum , theHonolulu Academy of Arts , theHuntington Library (California), theKimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, Texas), theLos Angeles County Museum of Art , theLouvre ,Manchester City Art Gallery (England), Musée des beaux-arts (Pau, France), theMetropolitan Museum of Art , theMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston (Texas), theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston , theNational Galleries of Scotland , theNational Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), theNational Gallery of Victoria (Australia), theNational Gallery of Canada , theNational Maritime Museum (London, England), theNational Museums and Galleries of Wales , theNational Museums Liverpool (England), theNational Portrait Gallery, London , the New Art Gallery (Walsall, England), theNorton Simon Museum (Pasadena, California), thePhiladelphia Museum of Art , theTate Gallery and theWallace Collection (London).See also
*
English school of painting References
External links
* [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/romneyg/home.asp George Romney exhibition]
* [http://www.romney-society.org.uk The Romney Society: British art's forgotten genius]
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