George Romney, 1734-1802

By Alex Kidson

Book Overview

This handsome catalogue, which accompanies a major international exhibition commemorating the bicentennial of George Romney's death, offers the first in-depth modern overview of a key figure in eighteenth-century British art. Romney was the main rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough--and for much of his career more fashionable than either. A century ago, collectors fought to buy the portraits he created with a distinctive mix of elegance, mannerism, and informality; especially popular were those of Emma Hart (later the notorious Lady Hamilton), who became his favorite model and muse. Romney's chief ambition, however, was to succeed as a history painter, and he made countless drawings for literary and mythological pictures that he never had time to paint. These drawings, executed with a spontaneity and dramatic expressiveness that have appealed to many modern artists, mark Romney as one of the first Romantics.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691095590
• ISBN13: 9780691095592
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 3.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.3" x 1.0" x 9.8"