Portrait of a Woman, Said to Be Emily Bertie Pott (1781) by George Romney

George Romney (1734–1802), English, A prominent portraitist of late 18th-century Britain, Romney rose to fame for his elegant, often idealized depictions of society’s elite. Though frequently compared to contemporaries like Reynolds and Gainsborough, he never sought membership in the Royal Academy, preferring independence over institutional validation. His style blended fluid brushwork with a keen sensitivity to character, capturing both the grandeur and subtle vulnerabilities of his sitters. Light played a central role in his compositions, softening features and lending an almost ethereal quality to figures like Emma Hart (later Lady Hamilton), whom he painted obsessively in mythological guises.
Romney’s early training in Lancashire was humble, but his ambition propelled him to London, where he cultivated patrons among the aristocracy and literary circles. Despite commercial success, he struggled with self-doubt, destroying works that failed to meet his exacting standards. Theatricality infused his later pieces, with dramatic poses and classical themes reflecting the Romantic era’s burgeoning fascination with emotion and antiquity. Financial instability and declining health marred his final years, yet his legacy endured through the quiet intensity of his portraits—less ostentatious than Reynolds’, but often more psychologically penetrating. Today, his works hang in major collections, a testament to an artist who bridged the Enlightenment’s rationality and Romanticism’s fervor.