1734-1802

In 1919, The Beckford Children, a painting by George Romney, sold for a record price for a British painting at the Duke of Hamilton’s sale.  In America, Henry Clay Frick acquired Romney’s works for The Frick Collection. And in 1935, Andrew Mellon purchased Romney’s works from the Hermitage, which purchase helped form the core of the National Gallery of Art’s collection.  Romney began as a portraitist in 1757, having apprenticed with Christopher Steele, studying art in Rome and Parma, and winning a Royal Society of Arts prize.  His muse, Lady Emma Hamilton, posed as heroines from the past; Romney painted her over sixty times.  This historical obsession preoccupied his work.