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1734-1802 • English • Painter • Grand Manner
"The fortunate chance which led him to a cultivation of the particular art he was destined to profess was simply this. In his youth he observed great singularity of countenance in a stranger at church; his parents, to whom he spoke of it, desired him to describe the person. He seized 011 a pencil, and delineated the features from memory with such strength of resemblance as amazed and delighted his affectionate parents." - William Hayley, 1809
Hayley may have romanticized the "fortunate chance" that led Romney to his profession, as quoted above, but Romney is among the top 18th-century British portrait painters, a list that includes REYNOLDS, GAINSBOROUGH, RAEBURN, and Sir Thomas LAWRENCE. They all painted heroic men, beautiful women, and children that are above average. Flattery of the English upper classes-more than insight into psychology, character, or truth-was their goal. Romney wished for success in HISTORY PAINTING and could not achieve it, but his portraits satisfied his clients; his colors were rich, the sitters' glances intelligent. He settled in London and competed with Gainsborough and Reynolds. He had a falling out over money with the latter, and was thus never elected to the Royal Academy, which Reynolds headed. Romney's story took an interesting turn in 1782 when, near the age of 50, he fell madly in love with a 17-year-old-the famous Emma. He painted her more than 50 times. She married Sir William Hamilton, whose portrait Romney also painted but probably no more than once, and she became the mistress of Britain's naval hero Lord Nelson. Romney's obsession persisted until his health broke, his talent weakened, and he retired to the north of England, rejoining his wife whom he had abandoned 27 years earlier. She nursed him until he died, quite senile, at the age of 68.