Old Master & 19th Century Paintings
Old Master & 19th Century Paintings
Works from the Collection of Jean Hart Kislak
After George Romney
'Emma as Contemplation'
Lot Closed
April 5, 01:05 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Works from the Collection of Jean Hart Kislak
After George Romney
'Emma as Contemplation'
oil on canvas
unframed: 60.6 x 50.8 cm.; 23⅞ x 20 in.
framed: 86 x 75.9 cm.; 33⅞ x 29⅞ in.
Private collection, USA;
Anonymous sale, Maine, James D. Julia, 20 August 2013, lot 1097 (as attributed to George Romney);
Where acquired by the present owner.
A. Kidson, George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, New Haven and London 2015, vol. III, p. 744, no. 1647h (as a copy).
This composition derives from a lost work by Romney which Kidson suggests may have been invented from disparate sources in Romney's fancy pictures and worked up by pupils and assistants. Multiple versions of this have been recorded.1 The model has traditionally been thought to be Emma Hamilton (1765–1815), Romney's great museum and one of the most famous women of the age. However, as Kidson has stated, this identification does not appear tenable.
1 Kidson 2015, pp. 744–45.