George Romney
Lord Warwick’s children, probably Lord Brooke (b. 1779-1853) and Henrietta Greville (d. 1858), 1780s
Oil on canvas
24 x 29 ½ inches (60 x 75 cm)
Philip Mould & Co.
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com This delightful painting represents one of the more spectacular discoveries of a new work by Romney, and it has been the...
To view all current artworks for sale visit philipmould.com
This delightful painting represents one of the more spectacular discoveries of a new work by Romney, and it has been the focus of much recent art-historical attention; an article devoted to the picture, its conservation, and the resurrection of its important place in Romney’s oeuvre, was published in the 2007 volume of the Transactions of the Romney Society.
The painting was sold in 2006 as a copy of Romney’s celebrated full-length portrait of Henrietta, Countess of Warwick and Her Children, part of the Frick Collection, New York. With restoration, however, the picture was found to be the lost Lord Warwick’s Children, painted by Romney himself, but obscured by over-paint applied in the second half of the nineteenth century. Cleaning removed these later Victorian additions, and revealed the artist’s work in all of its original freshness and vigour — including numerous pentimenti made by Romney in the initial stages of his efforts towards the production of the final full-length Frick portrait.
This delightful painting represents one of the more spectacular discoveries of a new work by Romney, and it has been the focus of much recent art-historical attention; an article devoted to the picture, its conservation, and the resurrection of its important place in Romney’s oeuvre, was published in the 2007 volume of the Transactions of the Romney Society.
The painting was sold in 2006 as a copy of Romney’s celebrated full-length portrait of Henrietta, Countess of Warwick and Her Children, part of the Frick Collection, New York. With restoration, however, the picture was found to be the lost Lord Warwick’s Children, painted by Romney himself, but obscured by over-paint applied in the second half of the nineteenth century. Cleaning removed these later Victorian additions, and revealed the artist’s work in all of its original freshness and vigour — including numerous pentimenti made by Romney in the initial stages of his efforts towards the production of the final full-length Frick portrait.
Provenance
Probably Earl of Shrewsbury. Alton Towers sale, 11 July 1857, lot 652 ‘Portrait of two children in a landscape’;G. Chester Esq., by whom sold, Christies 26 May1868, lot 112, 25 guineas to Noseda as ‘Romney – A Boy and a Girl’;
Christie's London 26 Feb 1880, lot 82, bt John Rhodes 260guineas;
Thence by descent at Brockhampton Park, Andoversford, Gloucestershire, until sold;
Sotheby's, London, Rhodes Sale 11 July 1934, lot 148 for £3,700 to Sabin;
With Newhouse Galleries, New York;
Mrs A.D.Williams, by whom gifted to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 25 March 1949;
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond Virginia, No. 49 -11- 24;
Deaccessioned, 2006
Exhibitions
Burlington House, London 1890, Old Masters Exhibition, no 121;Art Treasures, London 1933
European Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1968, p.68 No.110.
Literature
H Ward and W Roberts Romney, A Biographical and Critical Essay, with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Works, (London 1904) Vol II p.167;Lord Sutherland Gower, George Romney (London 1904) p.128 no. 121;
Algernon Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912 (London 1914) Vol III, p.119 no 121;
European Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, (USA 1968);
Romney Society: Paintings in Public Collections (Kendal 1996) p.58.