George Romney, 1734-1802

Alex Kidson

ISBN 10: 1855143348 / ISBN 13: 9781855143340

Published by National Portrait Gallery, 2002

Item in good condition. Textbooks may not include supplemental items i.e. CDs, access codes etc. Seller Inventory # 00062352528

Synopsis:

The year 2002 marks the bicentenary of the death of George Romney, one of the key figures in British art in the late 18th century. A chief rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough - and for much of his career more fashionable than both - he was known both as a portraitist and as a draftsman. His countless studies for literary and mythological pictures, made in private moments but which he never had time to paint, are executed in a bold, spontaneous style that mark him as one of the first Romantics. One hundred years ago Romney's reputation was at its peak. Collectors fought to obtain his portraits of fresh-faced English women, above all his portraits of Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton, who in her youth was Romney's favourite model and with whom he was widely supposed to have had an affair. As the more snobbish and sexist aspects of Edwardian taste became outdated, Romney's art fell spectacularly from favour. His career remains little understood and many of his best-known works are among his least distinguished. He both drew and painted with freedom and with a dramatic expressiveness unmatched in British portraiture of his day. Even later in life, as overwork and disenchantment sapped his enthusiasm, Romney was able to rekindle his energies for special sitters and when working on his occasionally sublime literary and historical paintings. This book provides a fully rounded overview of his career.

Review:
Winner of the Book Prize, Historians of British Art
"George Romney once belonged, as Alex Kidson reminds us . . to the foremost ranks of blue-chip artists. . . . Romney was a complex man. . . . Alex Kidson set out to show Romney whole, and [his efforts] seem to me exemplary in this attempt."--James Fenton, New York Review of Books

"Kidson has succeeded in achieving the aims he explicitly states in his introduction. . . . His comments on each work in the catalog are extensive and illuminating. The reproductions are good and the bibliography extensive."--Choice

"Kidson has succeeded in achieving the aims he explicitly states in his introduction. He wants both to restore the stature of the misunderstood and ignored Romney to his rightful position as a leading British artist of the 18th century and to outline the scope of his achievements. . . . His comments on each work in the catalog are extensive and illuminating. The reproductions are good and the bibliography extensive."--Choice

"George Romney is possibly the most unappreciated British painter of the 18th century . . . . [He] hoped to be known as a painter of historical and literary scenes. Kidson highlights these works as early examples of Romantic art. Kidson's notes are lucid and his scholarship first-rate, and the reproductions are of excellent quality."--Virginia Quarterly Review

Bibliographic Details

Title: George Romney, 1734-1802
Publisher: National Portrait Gallery
Publication Date: 2002
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Good