George Romney and his art

Preface

“ Oft seeing the old painter’s art,

We find the tear unbidden start,

And feel our full hearts closer grow To the far days of long ago.”

— Lewis Morris.

So little is known by the community at large of the record of the life of the great artist George Romney, that the general amount of information relative to his career could for the most part be condensed into one paragraph chiefly composed of a slander. Directly after his death in 1802, two of his friends wrote brief and regretful memoirs of him ; while a third evaporated a biography on a larger scale, in style so rigmarole as to prove wearisome reading ; but as it contained a reflection on the dead artist’s domestic relations, his son a few years later defended his father by writing his life himself.

IV

Preface.

As the pictures of George Romney were unknown to the majority of persons, the interest in him declined, and after his death his name was gradually clouded in obscurity, save in his immediate circle of acquaintance. He had not sent his works to any of the thirty-three Royal Academy Exhibitions that had taken place during his lifetime, for reasons that will be disclosed as the story of his life is told ; and when he had passed away the art world remained inert until 1817, when the British Institution borrowed three specimens of his paintings, one of which was his St. Cecilia ; so that from 1772, when he last sent to a public exhibition, until 1817, the outside world had had no opportunity of viewing his pictures ; and even at this latter show they were not accessible to everybody.

Then a long period elapsed before he was heard of again; for it was not until 1832 that

Preface.

v another solitary subject appeared among the winter exhibits at the Society of British Artists.

Though he had painted the great, the learned, and the beautiful of the land for two generations, his productions were practically unknown. Private galleries contained his matchless works, and their owners prized them ; but this was not fame as it should have been. His name was enshrouded in partial oblivion until the gift to the nation of the Vernon Collection in 1847 brought forward his rare conceptions. The painters who had been familiar with the creations of his genius had made no effort to keep his memory green ; but when the Vernon gift was national property, the praises of his sweet portraits resounded on all sides. Not until 1871 did any works of his hang upon the walls of the Royal Academy ; Lady Russell and her child being the first. The pleasure derived from the

VI

Preface.

inspection of these solitary specimens caused others to be included in metropolitan winter exhibitions, until, arriving at the present year, we find that Romney’s popularity has attained its acme through the medium of the refined and noble women of English society, who, in thorough appreciation of the simple grace of the old master, congregated upon the walls of the gratifying exhibition at the Grafton Gallery of portraits of fair women (which was collected by ladies) no less than twenty-one portraits by Romney of their illustrious grandmothers in the heyday of their beauty, against nineteen by Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. Again, as in their own day, the town is divided as to rival merits ; the scales of popularity being pretty evenly balanced.

What wonder is it that, after being in the possession of one or two perhaps uninterested

Preface .

Vll generations, works come forward misnamed, or that the history of the origin of fancy subjects be lost in the flight of passing years ?

In several instances the causes which called into existence some of his most popular paintings were of peculiar interest ; but owing to the obscurity into which they had fallen, the links were broken. The object of the writing of this new life of a charming painter is to try and reunite the severed chain of his poetical conceptions. It is a matter of extreme regret that several pictures which their owners gave consent to reproduce for this book have had to be crowded out ; but the favour remains the same.

For permission to copy Romney s pictures, and the literary assistance of those who so courteously and kindly have helped me to beautify my labour of love, I desire to devote these closing lines to acknowledging my obligation and ex-

Vlll

Preface.

pressing grateful thanks ; and I beg to make special mention of his Excellency Lord Houghton, her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland, the Right Hon. the Earl of Carlisle, and the Earl of Dartmouth, Lord de Tabley, the Dowager Lady Castletown, Sir Frederick Milner, Captain the Hon. John Manners Yorke, Henry Hucks Gibbs, Esq., M.P., Herbert C. Gibbs, Esq., Alfred Morrison, Esq., H. L. Bischoffsheim, Esq., Miss Mary Holtby, Mrs. Tobin, Eastham House, J. Hargreaves, Esq., Rock Ferry, H. P. Horne, Esq., T. L. Rutley, Esq., of the Reynolds Gallery, W. May, Esq., Birkenhead, E. F. J. Deprez, Esq., A. E. Whitehouse, Esq., of the Hyde Park Gallery Fine Art Co.

Camden Lawn, Birkenhead.

HILDA GAMLIN.

Contents

CHAPTER ]

I. Parentage — The Cumberland Fells — Youth — Apprenticeship— Marriage — George Romney starts in Business for Himself and has a Lottery of his Pictures — Hogarth satirises his Mean Patron — Mrs. Romney’s

Portrait

Chapter I

Parentage — The Cumberland Fells — Youth — Apprenticeship— Marriage — George Romney starts in Business for Himself and has a Lottery of liis Pictures — Mrs. Romney's Portrait.

How seldom it is that men steer to fortune in the course designed for them by hopeful progenitors ! The shaping of a man’s career is, after all, in his own hands ; and the submitting to the will of another against a natural bent in the choice of livelihood has as often marred as made a fortune : and one of those who have wandered from the pathway in life selected by parental authority was the subject of these memoirs, — George Romney. Destined by birth to take his place in the ranks of trade, his genius budded and blossomed amid rustic

i

George Romney and His Pictures.

surroundings where no opportunity was available to acquire instruction in his inborn art. Onward he went, following his selected profession, until by incessant application he reached the goal in the race for fame, and his name was placed high on the list of our great English painters.

The father of the youth who was to bring renown into the family was “ Honest John Romney ” 1 of Furness, so titled by his neighbours; he was of comparatively humble circumstances, by trade a combination of the joiner and cabinetmaker, and he also farmed a small patrimonial freehold in the district of Dalton. A worthy man in every sense of the word, with an ingenious turn of mind of no mean limit, for ever experimenting, his capabilities extending from^he construction of a fiddle, or a plough to go by steam, to the conversion of a chest of drawers

1 The correct spelling of the family name was Runmey, which John Rumney, the cabinetmaker, always signed in round schoolboy style.

His Parents.

o out of a sailor’s chest that was made of mahogany brought from the West Indies, and which was the first piece of mahogany furniture manufactured in that district, for up to that time walnut or cherry wood had been in general use. He was likewise the first to convert sea shells into manure, which he introduced with beneficial results upon his farm land.

Though he spent most of the years of his life on a small inherited farm at Dalton, following the threefold occupation of merchant, cabinetmaker, and farmer, yet he does not appear to have acquired riches from the joint profits of all.

His wife (formerly Anne Simpson of Sladebank, in Cumberland) was a good motherly soul, a thrifty housewife, such as is often met with, dividing her duties between helping her husband in his business, and looking after the needs of her numerous little ones. Her son George was born at Beckside, near Dalton, on December 15, 1734. He passed the earliest years of his life in a situa-

George Romney and His Pictures.

tion every way calculated to impress an observant mind with the varied phases and beauties of nature. Each morning as he arose it was to survey the boundless ocean with its picturesque surroundings ; for the site of his father’s house was on a kind of terrace commanding an extensive view of the Irish Sea, while from the hill behind it the prospect was a perfect panorama ; the high grounds on the Cumberland side being well cultivated and studded with white farmhouses, while mansions of gentry enlivened the scene, and Black Comb rose majestically and sombre with its summit enveloped in grey mist in unsettled weather. In the distance could be seen the points of Scaw Fell and contiguous mountains. The thunderstorms in this romantic region supplied his impressionable intellect with a fine conception of the sublime. He would note the storm approach across the sea on a dark evening from the distant streak which marked the horizon till the ocean became

School-days.

When old enough he was sent to school at Dendron, distant about four miles from his home, where the master, the Rev. Mr. Fell, taught his pupils for the modest remuneration of five shillings a quarter. It was too far for him to return home mid-day, so he was boarded with a Mr. Gardner of the same place for £4 10s. per annum, within a trifle of 3d. per day. His progress at school was so slow that his father thought it waste of money to continue the expense of his studies ; so he placed the boy in his own workshop, his age being then eleven years. Slow he might have been ; but by his steady attention to his trade he soon became of material service. In the early part of his career his diligent application was most praiseworthy. As soon as he could handle the tools he began to carve fiddles for his rustic companions. A gift of one of these to a pupil at Mr. Fell’s named Greene started a friendship that lasted to the end of their lives. He made a very elaborate one for himself, the tone of which was extremely good ; there was some light

George Romney and His Pictures.

carved work that spread from the setting in of the neck over part of the back that was very curiously executed.1 He kept this instrument until the day of his death, and in after-life he sometimes treated his few intimate friends to a composition of his own in a room hung round with pictures of his own creation, — a singular combination of artistic talent in the one person.

The opportunities of seeing pictures in that then remote district were rare indeed, — the most attractive being the sign of the Bed Lion at Dalton. As no man in the locality had ever seen a lion, red or otherwise, its claim to be king of the beasts was never disputed. One of Mr. Romney’s workmen, who boarded with him, by name Sam Knight, took a monthly illustrated magazine, which he usually gave to his master’s son when he had finished with it himself. The lad copied

1 Experts consider the carving to be not English but Italian, both in design and workmanship. This Romney may have bought, and then made the violin.

Apprenticed to an Artist.

the engravings from the serial with such fidelity that Sam Knight encouraged his efforts as far as his own limited knowledge went. Some of these drawings came under the notice of a Mr. Lewthwaite, of Millom, in Cumberland, who urged his father to yield to and educate his evident talent for drawing; and just in the nick of time an incident furthered the proposition. A Mrs. Gardner, related to the party with whom he had boarded at Dendron, noticing how apt he was with his pencil, asked him to take her portrait. The result pleased her so much that she added her persuasions to those of Mr. Lewthwaite, and the father dispensed with his services at the bench, and bound him as apprentice1 to an itinerant painter named Steele, who happened just then to be wandering in the district, and was located for the time being at Kirkby Kendal. This artist,

1 His indentures were signed Rumney, as also were some of his early letters ; the change from Rumney to Romney occurred a few years later.

George Romney and His Pictures.

Christopher Steele, was nicknamed Count Steele from his having acquired showy French manners and adopted a French style of dress, contracted during a brief residence in Paris, where he had the advantage of studying under Carlo Van Loo, a painter of great repute. Steele’s pictures were executed in a broad manner, and his lace caps and aprons were the best possible to do. At first the new pupil was treated more in a menial capacity, and allowed but little time wherein to improve himself ; his chief occupation was grinding colours. Perhaps in the main this drudgery was beneficial to him : it initiated him into perfect knowledge of the mixing of colours ; for in his earliest productions there is singular clearness and sweetness of tone, far beyond what might be expected from an artist of so little experience. While articled to Steele he became attached to a young woman of about his own age, named Mary Abbot. Her mother had been left a widow with two little girls, and by her own industry she

Youthful Marriage.

had respectably reared them. Mary was in a situation in humble life as domestic servant when young Romney fell ill of a fever, resulting from the excitement brought on by assisting his master to elope to Gretna Green with one of his pupils. During his illness he was tended by Mary Abbot, and the two young people fell in love with each other.

Steele, who was for ever on the ramble, sent word that he was about to reside in York, and Romney must prepare to follow him. The lovers keenly felt the impending separation, and resolved to get married, which they did on October 14, 1756.

His precipitate marriage sorely vexed his parents at the time, as he was only an apprentice without means of subsistence ; and to their remonstrance he made answer that he now had an incentive to diligence, as he would have no leisure for youthful follies when he had another depending on him. Soon after his improvident marriage he joined Steele at York, and as he had no income io George Romney and His Pictures.

of his own his young wife had perforce to remain at Kendal. Indeed, she seems to have had more

to spare than he had ; for on more than one occasion she enclosed half a guinea in a letter to him, her own savings. He wTorked assiduously, and sent her a portrait of himself in oils, the first he ever did — a crude performance, but highly valued by the recipient.

From indolent habits Steele proved a most unsatisfactory master; indeed, a discreditable one; constantly flitting from town to town, leaving behind him uncancelled debts, while his pupils had to face his angry creditors. Finding that he wras meditating a move to Ireland, Romney was anxious to sever his connection with him, for this unsettled life was most distasteful ; he therefore suggested to Steele that, instead of returning ten pounds which he, Romney, had lent him, the indentures should be annulled. This Steele agreed to, for he had the decency to know that his example was a drawback to

He Starts in Business.

1 1

his pupil; and, in relinquishing his engagement, he remarked that he did so that he might not retard the progress of one whom he was sure would do wonders.

Upon gaining his freedom, George Romney returned to Kendal, and commenced business as a portrait painter on his own account, and was at once in demand, though he had only studied a little over two years. His younger brother, Peter, was showing great promise also as an artist, though only sixteen years old; to help the youth George took him to teach him the preparatory science of mixing colours.

George’s initial production on starting for himself was a sign for the Post Office in Kendal, a hand holding a letter, which remained there many a year. The two first portraits of importance with which he w^as favoured were half-lengths of Mr. Walter Strickland of Sizergh and his lady. This gentleman proved a kind and considerate patron ; and he

George Romney and His PictiLres.

I 2 allowed Romney to copy some of his valuable family pieces, works of eminent men, which thoughtful act on the part of Mr. Strickland greatly improved the young man’s style. Then Mr. Charles Strickland sat to him ; he was brother to Mr. Walter, and he was taken sitting, with a fishing-rod in his hand, the background being a waterfall called the Force in the Kent, near Sizergh.

Two similar pictures executed at this time were remarkable for the perfect drawing of the dogs that were introduced, faithful to nature in every respect.

One was Mr. Jacob Morland of Cappletliwaite in his shooting dress, with his favourite pointer. The other was Colonel George Wilson of Abbot Hall, Kendal, leaning against a rock, attended by three spaniels. This picture went to Dallam Tower, where followed, in 1767, the Rev. Daniel Wilson of Lancaster in his clerical dress ; and, later still, a three-quarters portrait of Mrs.

CATHERINE MARY AND THOMAS JOHN CLAVERING. ( From the fainting by George Romney.)

Early Patrons.

Wilson, very pleasing and sweetly coloured. He also did kit-cats of Mrs. Charles Strickland and the Eev. William Strickland, which were hung at Sizergh.

The wife of the Eev. Dr. Simonds, Vicar of Kendal, was very desirous of having her husband’s likeness ; but he could not be induced to sit, so in order to gratify the lady Eomney sketched his face while doing duty in church, with most satisfactory results.

Among his patrons at this time was the Eev. Dr. Bateman, the learned master of Sedbergh School, who evaded the modest demand of the artist that he should remit him two guineas as the price of the commission until a letter from an attorney opened his purse.

While in York, Eomney had bought prints after Dutch masters that had taken his fancy, and in leisure moments in Kendal he copied them in oils, and composed scenes of kindred styles. When he had sufficient to form a little collection be raffled them in Kendal Town Hall for ten and sixpence a ticket. When eiglity-two tickets were sold the pictures were exhibited for a week in the public building, and then were raffled. Subjoined is the list ; those marked (*) were his own conceptions, the rest were from designs of eminent masters.

*1.

King Lear awakened by his Daughter

Ft.

In.

Ft.

In.

s.

Cordelia, . . . . .

X

*2.

King Lear in “ The Tempest ” Tear-

ing off his Robes,

X

*3.

A Landscape with Figures,

2 x

*4.

A Quarrel,

X

*5.

A Shandean Piece, . . . .

X

*6.

A Droll Scene in an Alehouse, .

X

A Landscape after Poussin,

X

Harvest : A Landscape, .

X

St. Cecilia, .....

X

Holy Family,

X

*11.

A Group of Heads by Candlelight, .

X

A Piece of Rocks, ....

X

A Magdalene,

X

Colebrook Dale : A Landscape,

X

A Landscape from Wouverman,

X

A Landscape with Figures Fishing,

X

Pictures Raffled by Lottery.

17. A Dutch House with Figures, .

Ft.

In. Ft. In.

s.

*18. A Tooth Drawing by Candlelight, .

19. A Landscape from Berghem, .

20. A Landscape with a Group of Houses,

Mrs. Romney, his young wife, was his model for Cordelia in King Lear awakened by his Daughter Cordelia . This prize was drawn by a Mr. Richardson of Cartmel, whose son afterwards removed to the south, and most likely took it with him, which would account for its reaching s, broker’s shop in Kensington some years later, where by a curious coincidence it attracted the •observation of a son of Adam Walker, a distinguished lecturer in philosophy, who drew his father’s attention to it. Mr. Walker at once recognised it as Romney’s, for he himself was the original of King Lear. He acquired it for a paltry five shillings ; whether a frame was included in the bargain, history sayeth not. King Lear in “ The Tempest ” Tearing off liis Bobes was won by Mrs. Robinson, housekeeper to Captain Wilson of Bardsea Hall, a torchlight subject which eventually became the property of Mr. JBraddyll of Conishead Priory. Strange to say, the first and last attempts of Romney were from this scene.

No. 3, A Landscape with Figures , wTas lost sight of after the lottery until 1798, when Romney and his son were looking at a house at Barfield in the north, which they thought of purchasing. The little picture of two timid ladies in a boat on a lake with three gentlemen attracted the notice of the younger Romney ; and he inquired the name of the painter. To his surprise he received as answer “ The great Mr. Romney,” for the owner knew not the visitors.

The son ultimately bought the picture ; for he had heard his mother speak of an excursion to Bowness and the island on Lake Windermere, and he concluded that his father sketched the landscape as a reminiscence of the day’s pleasure trip ; for two of the figures were undoubtedly himself and Mrs. Romney, while the gentleman standing up in

Pictures from “ Tristram Shandy ”.

the boat was Adam Walker.1 At the raffle it had fallen to a Miss Gibson of Lancaster, who gave it to her relative, in whose possession it was found.

The person who won the Shandean Piece gave it to Sir Alan Chambre, Knight. It represented Dr. Slop splashed and dirt-daubed ushered into the parlour of Obadiah, where Walter Shandy and Toby were discoursing ; but their attention was arrested by the woeful and grotesque appearance of the doctor. From the same author Romney commenced another picture, The Death of Le Fevre ; although unfinished when he left Kendal, and most probably never completed, still it was described by Adam Walker as most affecting.

The figures were about eighteen inches long, and full of expression, the dying lieutenant looking at Uncle Toby, who sat mute at the foot of the bed, and by a movement of his hand recommended his son to his care, while the boy kneeling by the bedside pathetically turns from the dying man, 1 Sold at Messrs. Christie’s on May 25, 1894, for ^23 10s.

craving protection from the living father. Trim stood in his usual attitude, at a distance, full of grief.

While serving his apprenticeship to Steele at York, some of George Romney’s drawings had been shown to Lawrence Sterne, who was then Vicar of Stretton. He immediately pronounced in their favour, and took the young artist under his protection. The praise of Sterne was a passport that lifted him into celebrity at once. The pictures which Romney painted from his patron’s works added considerably to his fame, they were conceived with such comic force. Tradition in York said that Dr. Slop was a burlesque on a well-known accoucheur and antiquarian in the district, by name Dr. Burton, upon whom the good people of York pinned their faith ; a quaint figure, somewhat deformed, with a very large head, whom they were accustomed to see mud-spattered sitting astride his diminutive pony, hurrying through the Yorkshire lanes to a professional emergency case.

Dr. Slop , a Life Sketch.

Romney must have been perfectly familiar with the local celebrity ; and when Tristram Shandy was published he would be cognisant of Sterne’s satire on the medical gentleman, so the comical figure in Romney’s sketch may reasonably be assumed to be a likeness, albeit when the book appeared Dr. Burton declined to trace any affinity between himself and Dr. Slop.

Where the rest of the lottery prizes went to is at present unknown : some day they may be recognised. The Tooth Drawing by Candlelight is a subject so uncommon that it should be traceable if in existence. The patient, with a combined expression of fear and pain, is placed in the centre of the picture ; a man bends over him from behind, holding his head with both hands ; while the operator, with prolonged and anxious visage, extracts the tooth. On the left is a woman in shadow, who, from the powerful effect of light upon the other figures, is evidently holding a candle, though invisible to the spectator.

Peter Romney, the artist’s younger brother, took a copy of it in oils when a boy, but it would naturally be much inferior to the original. Romney would most likely get bis design from one of the Dutch prints picked up in York. Gerard Douw did a very similar scene.

George Romney particularly excelled in candlelight effects. He painted his brother James when sixteen years old holding a candle with one hand, and intercepting the light with the other, as if to screen it from the action of the air; the effect is gained by the illumination of the face. 1 He used to paint at night, so as faithfully to copy the true shades cast upon subjects by lamps, and he once devised a scheme for illuminating theatres from above, by which the actors would be seen more distinctly, while the glare was less offensive to the audience.

Two small studies in oil, of the- heads of Lear

1 This picture was disposed of by Messrs. Christie for £22 Is. on May 25, 1894.

A Mean Patron.

2 1 and Cordelia, Eomney was about to burn as valueless, when a Mr. Matthew Whittaker, of Kendal, begged them from him. These he greatly prized, and had them glazed and framed to preserve them, rejecting the offer of a friend to purchase them for ten guineas.

About this time Eomney painted the portrait of a gentleman, for which he was to receive two guineas, his average price for a three-quarters, and six guineas was the figure he asked for a whole length on a kit-cat. The gentleman withdrew from his bargain on the plea that he was not present when the finishing touches were put on ; and it was left by Eomney with a Mr. Collinson of Lancaster.

But when his reputation was acknowledged, and he won the premium for a large work sent to the London Exhibition for competition, the original of the rejected portrait thought he would be wise if he secured it, so he called on Mr. Collinson and claimed it. When the latter gentle-

2 2 man handed the cash to Mrs. Romney he jocosely proved prophetic, saying that Romney’s pictures improved by keeping — a statement which time has shown to be a literal fact, for his colours have mellowed and ripened.

It was and is no uncommon occurrence for a patron to alter his mind between the giving of an order and its execution ; and just about the same time that George Romney was calmly submitting to the whim of his client, William Hogarth was undergoing a similar ordeal : but Hogarth wras made of different humour, and was quite a match for his man ; and in reply to an epistle from a friend who had remarked on the

return of the picture ordered by Sir R G

Hogarth emitted the following satire : —

To your charge the other day About my picture and my pay,

In metre I’ve a mind to try One word by way of a reply.

To risque, you’ll own it was absurd Such labour on a rich man’s word ;

Hogarth's Satire . 23

To lose at least an hundred days Of certain gain for doubtful praise,

Since living artists ne’er were paid.

But then, you know, it was agreed,

I should be deemed an artist dead,

This promise drew' me fairly in,

And having laid my pencil by,

What painter was more dead than I ? 1 But dead as Guido let me be,

Then judge, my friend, ’twixt him and me ;

If merit crowns alike the piece,2 What treason to be alike in price,

Because no copied line you trace,

No copied colouring, copied grace,

The picture can’t be right, you’re sure.

But say, my critic connoisseur,

Moves it the heart as much, or more,

Than picture ever did before ?

This is the painter’s truest test,

And this Sir R d’s self confest ;

Nay, ’tis so moving that the knight Can’t even bear it in his sight ;

Then who would tears so dearly buy

1 Hogarth had abandoned painting when he undertook this commission.

2 The same picture was sold for four hundred pounds later at a sale.

As give four hundred pounds to cry ?

I own he chose the prudent part Bather to break his word than heart;

And yet methinks ’tis ticklish dealing With one so delicate — in feeling !

However, let the picture rust,

Perhaps Time’s price-enhancing dust,

As statues moulder into earth,

When I’m no more may mark its worth ; 1 And future connoisseurs may rise Honest as ours, and full as wise,

To puff the piece, and painter too,

And make me then what Guido’s now.