George Romney

Richard Ratcliff, Stanford Hall, Loughborough;
By descent to his great grandson, Marcus Kimball, M.P.;
By whom sold, London, Sotheby's, November 19, 1969, lot 45;
Anonymous sale ("Property of a Gentleman"), London, Sotheby's, July 13, 1988, lot 53;
Where purchased by the present owner. 

Possibly H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney, A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonne of his Works, London 1904, p. 180, no. 2.c;
A. Kidson, George Romney, 1734-1802, exhibition catalogue, Princeton 2002, p. 200, footnote 2.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been recently varnished and restored. The canvas has been reinforced around the edges to allow for proper stretching, but the original canvas is un-lined. There are two or three repairs in the upper left quadrant and one other in the lower center. On the surface these repairs address what appears to be a break or a crease in the edge of the hat and in the hair, and another running horizontally through the background, the tree trunk and just entering the top of the hat. There are only a few tiny spots of restoration in the face and elsewhere. This seems to be the general condition where only a few isolated dots of restorations exist. The only real concentration of retouches is above the boat in the distance in the center right addressing some abrasion in the sky. The condition of this picture is impressive and although it is highly unusual to find a picture of this period and scale which is un-lined, the method of support here is quite appropriate. The picture should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This charming and wistful portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton, would appear to be one of three versions of the subject listed by Ward and Roberts (see literature), or possibly an unrecorded fourth version.¹ The  prime version is generally believed to be the canvas in the collection of the National Maritime Museum, London.  Although the pose of the figure remains consistent throughout the versions, the present canvas differs in its inclusion of the vine in the upper left, and its slightly more distant perspective, which allows for the inclusion of a full-length Emma and a wider view of the cavern and ocean beyond. 

Emma Hart, Later Lady Hamilton, as "Absence", in all its versions, is a prime example of the confusion over Romney's oeuvre after his death.  Due to the artist's reluctance to exhibit and document his work during his life, family members and connoisseurs who later tried to identify and classify his works were often stymied by the lack of reliable information.  The present title is derived from a 1787 listing of the contents of Romney's studio compiled by an assistant while the artist was still living, which identifies the work by the title Absence; however, the work has also been known by a number of different, and sometimes conflicting, titles.  For example, in his Memoirs, the artist's son John incorrectly associates this work with another by his father entitled Miss Vernon as the Seamstress.   Yet another mention of this painting refers to it by the title Kate, an allusion to the poem The Task by William Cowper.²  It was also known during most of the 20^th century as Lady Emma Hamilton as Ariadne, a title that was likely an invention of the later 19^th century, as there is no evidence that Emma ever sat to Romney as Ariadne.³  These associations not withstanding, it is certain that the lovely sitter with her auburn hair and rosy cheeks is Lady Hamilton.  That she is depicted in a state of melancholia is likely evocative of Romney's mood, as is his original title:  this work would have been painted in Emma's absence, after she had left England for Naples, depriving the artist of one of his favorite muses. 

Emma Hart, born Emy Lyon (bap. 1765-1815) came from humble roots to become one of the most celebrated beauties of her age.  The companion of a number of prominent gentlemen, Emma became the mistress of Charles Francis Greville (1749-1809) in the early 1780s, and through him, met George Romney and other members of London's artistic elite.  The artist painted Emma over and over, and he was only the first of many to be taken with her.  In 1786, Greville sent Emma to Naples to live with his uncle, Sir William Hamilton.  Emma thrived in Naples, becoming the toast of society.  It was also here that she developed her "Attitudes," in which she dressed in "classical" robes and imitated the poses of figures from Greek pottery and antique sculpture.   Goethe, in his Italian Journey, described Emma as "a young English girl... with a beautiful face and perfect figure," and her Attitudes "like nothing you ever saw before in your life."⁴  After marrying Sir William in 1791, Emma also had a long relationship with Lord Nelson (1758-1805), with whom she had three children, one of whom, a daughter named Horatia, survived.  When Nelson was killed in the battle of Trafalgar, he left Emma and Horatia provided for in his will, but it was not enough to save her from debt, alcoholism and obscurity.  Emma died in Calais in 1815, but she left behind an artistic legacy, evident in the numerous works by Romney, Reynolds, Lawrence, Hoppner and Kauffmann that she inspired.  

We are grateful to Alex Kidson for endorsing the attribution to Romney based on photographs. 

1.   Although this work has been associated with Ward and Roberts no. 2c, for which no dimensions are listed, that work is described as being three-quarter length, which suggests that this full-length picture is a fourth and unrecorded version.  
2.  Kidson, op. cit., p. 200.
3.  The legend that the composition refers to Lord Nelson's abandonment of Emma to go to Trafalgar just as Theseus had abandoned Ariadne on Naxos does not make chronological sense, as Emma and Lord Nelson only became intimate much later (see Kidson, op. cit., p. 200).
4.  J.W. Goethe, Italian Journey (1786-1788), trans. W.H. Auden and E. Meyer, 1970, p. 199.