17 - George ROMNEY (Dalton in Furness, 1734 - Kendal, 1802)

George ROMNEY (Dalton in Furness, 1734 - Kendal, 1802) Portrait of Miss Vermont as Hebe (1761/62 -1833) Canvas 104.5x80.5 cm Provenance : Commissioned from the artist by George, 2nd Earl of Warwick in 1777; Agnew's Gallery, London, 1905, Franz Frantsevich Utheman Collection (1868-1925) in St. Petersburg before 1908 Remained with his descendants in Swiss Graubünden since 1917 Sale in London, Sotheby's, November 23, 1966, no. 75 (with the addition of 10 cm side strips on each side, which have since been removed) Exhibition: London, British Institution, 1863, no. 160 "a lady as Hebe", belonging to the Earl of Warwick. Bibliography: - Photographic reproduction published as a supplement to the Graphic, January 4, 1896 (without side additions). - H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney:: a biographical and critical essay with a catalog raisonné of his works, 1904, Vol. II, p. 162 (locates the painting in the Earl of Warwick's home, with the addition of 4-inch side strips on both sides). - The Art Journal, 1905, p.44 (located at Galerie Agnew) - Alexandre Benois, Collection de F. F. Utenan à Saint-Pétersbourg (sic), in Starye Gody magazine, April 1908, Saint-Pétersbourg 1908, p.189-199. - G. Ch. Rump, George Romney (1734-1802): zur Bildform der Bürgerlichen Mitte in der Englischen Neoklassik, 1974, vol.1, p. 259, n°362, vol.2, reproduced Abb.13 - Alex Kidson, A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, Yale University Press, 2015, no. 1336 (with incomplete history, listed with Francis, 5th Earl of Warwick, at Warwick House, St. James's in 1910, then lost and reproduced in black and white from the 1966 Sotheby's sale). The model, Carolina Maria Vernon, belonged to a parliamentary family. Her father was Richard Vernon of Hilton Park, MP for Tavistock (southern England, Devon). She married Robert Percy ("Bobus") Smith in 1798 in Bowood. Her husband was Judge Advocate General in India from 1803 to 1810, then Member of Parliament for Lincoln. Their only son Robert Vernon (1800-1873) was a member of the Liberal (Whig) Party and became 1st Baron Lyveden in 1859. Romney was commissioned in 1777 to paint two portraits of Miss Vernon for George Greville, 2nd Earl of Warwick, his brother-in-law in 1777, who had been married to his elder sister Henrietta since 1776. The latter was one of the most important collectors of antiques and paintings of his time, and the originator of the Warwick Castle collection, where it is still preserved. The Rubens and van Dyck ensemble is exceptional. He was a generous patron of the arts, regularly commissioning portraits of family members from Romney, as well as several landscape painters. Our painting is mentioned in Romney's register, under no. 26, as a full-length portrait (240 x 148 cm), unfinished in 1777, then reduced to three-quarters, which he kept for almost twenty-four years, the Earl of Warwick not settling it until 1801. She is described as clutching the wine jug with both hands and looking up, dressed in a classic pink gown with white short sleeves, gold band, blue sash and flowing brown hair. Two shoulder-length portraits of Miss Vernon are known. The one in the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery is probably a study for our painting (canvas, 44 x 36 cm, inv. GLAHA_43797, Kidson, op.cit, n°1336a) and another is in a private collection (canvas, 49.5 x 38.5 cm, Kidson, n°1336a). In our historiated portrait, Miss Vernon is portrayed as Hebe. Daughter of Zeus and Hera, this goddess of youth was the cupbearer of the gods, feeding her father, in the form of an eagle, with a chalice or other vessel, which is her iconographic attribute. The young woman shows a gentle, delicate expression, looking slightly upwards, evoking a feeling of serene contemplation. Along with Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, George Romney was one of the most important portrait painters of the second half of the 18th century. Unlike the latter two, he did not enter the Royal Academy, nor did he enjoy the patronage of the aristocracy at the very start of his career. This did not prevent him from painting many figures from London's high society. Born in the north of England, he trained with his father, a cabinetmaker, and then with the painter Christopher Steele at Redmayne's Yard. He moved to London in 1763. He completed his training in Paris in 1764, then in Italy between 1772 and 1775. Back in London in 1782, he met the future Lady Hamilton, who became his muse and whom he painted some fifty times, either au naturel or disguised as a divinity or theatrical figure. In addition to his portraits, Romney left an important body of graphic work close to that of Füssli and Flaxman (Musée du Louvre).