Skip to main content

George Romney Paintings

English, 1734-1802

George Romney is best known as one of British society’s foremost portrait painters of the 18th century, rivaling other widely acknowledged portraitists such as Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds.

Born in 1734 in Dalton-on-Furness, Romney was the son of a cabinetmaker. In 1755, he began his artistic career as an apprentice to portrait painter Christopher Steele before traveling to northern England to establish a painting studio in Kendal. Romney’s talent in portraiture proved fruitful. By 1762, he had made enough money to set up a studio in London, where he became renowned for an “ability to paint flattering images regardless of personality.” 

During the 1760s, Romney had hoped to become a history painter but was unsuccessful. To refine and improve his technique, he traveled to Rome in 1773, where he spent two years studying the Old Masters, including Titian, Correggio and Raphael. While there, he was also influenced by the works of Swiss painter Henry Fuseli.  

Upon his return to London, in 1775, and with his newly honed painting style, Romney became even more popular among the British aristocracy and nobility. Although his primary aspiration was to make a living as a historical painter, Romney was in demand as a portraitist. His favorite subjects were children and women, particularly his muse, Emma Hart — who later became Lady Hamilton and mistress of Admiral Lord Nelson. Romney painted several Romantic portraits and drew many sketches of Lady Hamilton, whom he considered to represent the ideal of feminine beauty.

In his later years, Romney produced several portraits and drawings of Shakespearean subjects for John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery in 1790. 

Romney’s figurative works, portraits and prints are held in collections of numerous major museums and galleries, including the National Portrait Gallery in London, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection in New York. In 2002, an exhibition commemorating the bicentenary of Romney’s death was organized by the National Museums Liverpool in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens in San Marino, California. 

On 1stDibs, find a range of original George Romney drawings, paintings and prints.

to
2
1
3
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
3
1
1
3
3
4
4
3
3
2
1
1
4
4
1
1
9
787
757
753
665
3
3
1
Artist: George Romney
Portrait of Anne Evelyn - British 18thC Old master oil painting excellent prov.
Portrait of Anne Evelyn - British 18thC Old master oil painting excellent prov.

Portrait of Anne Evelyn - British 18thC Old master oil painting excellent prov.

By George Romney

Located in Hagley, England

This stunning British 18th century Old Master portrait oil painting, with exceptional provenance, is by noted artist George Romney. It was painted in 1788, commissioned by James Evelyn of Felbridge as it is of his younger daughter Anne, aged 20 years old. James was a Doctor of Law and Anne's mother was his second wife, Jane. Felbridge house, Anne's home, was in the village of Godstone in Surrey. This superb oil painting is a seated portrait of Anne, wearing a white dress with a green sash, her forearms exposed and her hands in her lap. Anne is blessed with the most wonderful long auburn curly hair and is visually stunning. Her body is partly turned away from the artist/viewer and she is slightly gazing down at us with confident, clear eyes. Anne is pictured in a landscape with a dramatic sky behind her. Romney's brushwork on her dress, hair and the background is superb. The delicate detailing of her facial features is also stunning. Sometimes Old Master portraits can be a little staid, but this one of Anne with her wild auburn hair and bold look is just magnificent. This is a fantastic example of George Romney's work and of an 18th century British Old Master with exceptional detailed provenance. Name plate states: Anne, younger daughter of James Evelyn of Fellbridge Esq. 1788, aged 20. Romney. Provenance. With Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool (1784-1851) With The Hon. Henry Berkeley Portman (1860-1923), Later 3rd Viscount Portman; with Emma, Viscountess Portman (1862-1929) By 1926; with her daughter Lady Moyra Dawson-Damer (1897-1962) Thence by family descent. Painted in 1788. There are various labels verso. Mentioned in Lord Hawkesbury's Catalogues of Portraits at Compton Place and at Buxted Park, in Sussex, 1903, p.18, no. 3, at Buxted Park, as in the 'Dining Room, South Wall'. Further Bibliography: Gower (R. S.) Romney, London, 1904, p. 175 Kidson (Alex) George Romney, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015, I, p. 205, no. 422 (illus).Ward (Humphrey) and Roberts (William) Romney: A Biographical and Critical Essay, London: T Agnew & Sons, 1904, p. 51 Condition. Oil on canvas. Image size 30 inches by 24 inches and in good condition. Frame. Housed in an ornate gilt frame with name plate, 37 inches by 31 inches and in good condition. George Romney (1734-1802) was born in Dalton-on-Furness, Lancashire, on 15 December 1734, the third of the eleven children of John Romney and Anne Simpson. Leaving school at the age of eleven, he worked for eight years in his father's cabinetmaking workshop before being apprenticed to a local painter, Christopher Steele, with whom he served for two years, from 1755 to 1757, in Kendal, York, and Lancaster. He married a Kendal girl, Mary Abbot...

Category

1780s Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of a Gentleman, traditionally identified as Edward Addison, Esq., 1780s
Portrait of a Gentleman, traditionally identified as Edward Addison, Esq., 1780s

Portrait of a Gentleman, traditionally identified as Edward Addison, Esq., 1780s

By George Romney

Located in Edinburgh, Scotland

George Romney (1734-1802) Portrait of a Gentleman, traditionally identified as Edward Addison, Esq., c.1780s Oil on canvas In a period carved and gilded swept frame 76.3 x 63.2 cm.; ...

Category

1780s Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait of Lady Caroline Price
Portrait of Lady Caroline Price

Portrait of Lady Caroline Price

By George Romney

Located in Miami, FL

DESCRIPTION: Perhaps the best Romney in private hands. If Vogue Magazine existed in the late 18th century, this image of Lady Caroline Price would be ...

Category

1970s Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Related Items
18th Century Oil on Canvas Portrait, Major Alexander Brown in Military Uniform.
18th Century Oil on Canvas Portrait, Major Alexander Brown in Military Uniform.

18th Century Oil on Canvas Portrait, Major Alexander Brown in Military Uniform.

By Sir David Wilkie

Located in Cotignac, FR

18th Century Military portrait of a young officer in Napoleonic period military dress. The painting is not signed but the subject is Major Alexander Brown. The work is oil on canvas later mounted on board and presented in a fine 'Regence style' carved gilt frame. There are labels to the back referring to the subject, 'Major Brown of Trinity' and a framers trade label from Edinburgh. A magnificent and imposing portrait of a young military officer in the prime of his life. His red uniform adorned with fine buttons, fringed epaulettes and high gilt collar. His ruddy complexion offset by his stylish hair, a quiff and swept forward to the sides as was the fashion at the time. Sir David Wilkie RA (18 November 1785 – 1 June 1841) was a Scottish painter, especially known for his portraits, including formal royal ones, and scenes from his travels to Europe and the Middle East. He painted successfully in a wide variety of genres, including historical scenes. His main base was in London, but he died and was buried at sea, off Gibraltar, returning from his first trip to the Middle East. He was sometimes known as the "people's painter". He was Principal Painter in Ordinary to King William IV and Queen Victoria. Apart from royal portraits, his best-known painting today is probably The Chelsea Pensioners Reading the Waterloo Dispatch of 1822 in Apsley House. Sir David Wilkie was actually admitted in 1799 (despite only being 14) through the influence of the Earl of Leven...

Category

Late 18th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil, Board

The Young Shepherdess: Late 19th Century Academic Oil Painting
The Young Shepherdess: Late 19th Century Academic Oil Painting

The Young Shepherdess: Late 19th Century Academic Oil Painting

By Charles Amable Lenoir

Located in New York, NY

The Young Shepherdess by Charles Amable Lenoir (1860-1926) Oil on canvas 48 x 32 inches unframed (121.92 x 81.28 cm.) 58 ½ x 42 ¾ inches framed (148.59 x 10...

Category

Late 19th Century Academic George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait Lady Pulzone Paint Oil on canvas Old master 16th Century Italian Roma
Portrait Lady Pulzone Paint Oil on canvas Old master 16th Century Italian Roma

Portrait Lady Pulzone Paint Oil on canvas Old master 16th Century Italian Roma

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Scipione Pulzone, called Il Gaetano (Gaeta 1544 - Rome 1598) - workshop of Portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587) Grand Duchess of Tuscany, second wife of Francesco I de 'Medici Second half of the 16th century oil on canvas, cm. 70 x 56 cm., Framed 103 x 87 cm. The proposed painting illustrates the portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587), a noblewoman of Venetian origins, second wife of the Grand Duke of Tuscany Francesco I de 'Medici, whose expressive power is wisely highlighted by the composite cut of light three quarters, with the head and gaze directed at the observer. The beam of light coming from her right brings out the volumes of her face plastically and lingers on her features, highlighted by the large white lace ruff that surrounds his neck and by the details of her precious clothing. Bianca wears a dark red dress, perhaps a zimarra, embroidered in gold with a plunging neckline and a raised collar of the shirt curled in a ruff and also edged with precious lace, embroidered with the motif of the Florentine lily.   The favorite jewels of the noblewoman were pearls: we see them on a choker that adorns the neckline, in the earrings and again in the hairstyle, which sees the hair gathered at the nape of the neck and adorned with a string of small black pearls and embellished with a clasp. It is a high-quality painting that can be confined to the workshop of the painter Scipione Pulzone called Gaetano, representing at best a pictorial genre, that of portraiture, in which the master excelled. This attribution would be confirmed by comparisons with the numerous portraits that Pulzone dedicated to the Medici family. Our painting, in particular, could represent one of the versions that the workshop has replicated, at the request of the numerous art collectors who wish to have a portrait of one of the most influential personalities of the Florentine scene. The characters drawn by Pulzone were icons of incomparable elegance: noblewomen, knights and religious lent their faces to the eye of the artist who was able to grasp every meticulous detail with his superb technique. A photographic wealth and surprising material attention that trace the pictorial prototypes of Flemish inspiration, in particular of Antonis Mor...

Category

16th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait Sibyl Lady Zanotti Paint Oil on canvas Old master 18th Century Italian
Portrait Sibyl Lady Zanotti Paint Oil on canvas Old master 18th Century Italian

Portrait Sibyl Lady Zanotti Paint Oil on canvas Old master 18th Century Italian

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Portrait of an Eritrean Sibyl who writes the prophecy Circle of Lorenzo Pasinelli (Bologna 1629 - 1700) - Attributable to Giampietro Cavazzoni Zanotti ...

Category

18th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portraits King Louis XV Queen Gobert Paint Oil on canvas old master 18th Century
Portraits King Louis XV Queen Gobert Paint Oil on canvas old master 18th Century

Portraits King Louis XV Queen Gobert Paint Oil on canvas old master 18th Century

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Pierre Gobert (Fontainebleau 1662 - Paris 1744) Atelier of Pair of fine portraits Louis XV, King of France and his wife, Maria Leszczyńska oils on canvas (2), 41 x 32 cm., in frame 53 x 44 cm. It is easy to identify the sitters of this charming pair of portraits in the rulers of France, namely Louis XV of Bourbon, who ascended the throne in 1715 at the age of just thirteen and was nicknamed the 'Beloved', and Maria Leszczyńska, Queen Consort of France and Navarre and daughter of the King of Poland Stanislaus I. The queen is depicted in a three-quarter-length figure, her face smiling and turned towards the spectator. She wears a wig in shades of grey with her hair gathered around the nape of her neck and a diadem on her head, and pendants on her ears. She wears a dress with a wide neckline made of red velvet, brocaded with gold threads, with rich lace sleeves, and a bodice adorned with a jewelled bodice of diamonds and pearls. On the shoulders rests a blue velvet mantle embroidered with the heraldic...

Category

18th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Portrait Lady Woman Voet Paint Oil on canvas Old master 17th Century Italian Art
Portrait Lady Woman Voet Paint Oil on canvas Old master 17th Century Italian Art

Portrait Lady Woman Voet Paint Oil on canvas Old master 17th Century Italian Art

By Jacob Ferdinand Voet (Antwerp 1639 - Paris 1689)

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Jacob Ferdinand Voet (Antwerp 1639 - Paris 1689) Atelier Portrait of the Young Ortensia Mancini, Duchess of La Meilleraye (Rome 1646 - Chelsea 1699) Oil on canvas 75 x 61 cm. - exquisite gilded and lacquered wooden double frame 105 x 91 cm. The beautiful painting depicting the young and attractive Duchess Ortensia Mancini is part of the refined portraiture of Jacob Ferdinand Voet (Antwerp 1639 - Paris 1689). Of Flemish origin, the painter achieved great success with the aristocratic families of Rome - where he stayed from 1663 to 1679 - thanks to the famous series of portraits commissioned by Cardinal Flavio Chigi, depicting the most enchanting women of the time, and now housed in the Palazzo Chigi in Ariccia. The paintings became so popular that the artist was repeatedly asked to reproduce replicas and similar versions of them: the 'cabinet des dames' was thus one of the Roman fashions of the 17th century, justifying the large number of female portraits attributable to his workshop that gravitated on the market. Voet flaunted in his portraits a peculiar softness and grace in the rendering of the complexions, a subtle voluptuousness in the description of the lips, entrusted to small brushstrokes of red, a sense of calm fixity in the pose, all characteristics that are immediately reflected in the work under examination. Our young effigy, Hortense Mancini...

Category

17th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Venus Paolo Fiammingo Paint Oil on canvas Old master 16th Century Italian Art
Venus Paolo Fiammingo Paint Oil on canvas Old master 16th Century Italian Art

Venus Paolo Fiammingo Paint Oil on canvas Old master 16th Century Italian Art

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Pauwels Franck, known as Paolo Fiammingo (Antwerp, 1540 - Venice, 1596) Venus lying in a landscape Oil on canvas 116 x 150 cm. In antique frame 136 x 170 cm. The work is accompanied by a critical card by Dr. Federica Spadotto The splendid painting proposed sees portrayed, bare and stretched out on a red brocade cloth in gold sprinkled with roses, a refined and sensual Venus, in a composition with a profound symbolic value, and arriving at the perfect representation of the Renaissance woman who, like Venus, becomes an allegory love, eros, beauty and fertility. The canvas is part of the prestigious Venetian artistic and cultural environment of the second half of the sixteenth century, whose distinctive distinctive trait can be traced back to its cosmopolitan vocation. This characteristic, as Dr. Spadotto noted in her in-depth study, belongs to the same physiology of the Venetian capital, that is, being a distinctly commercial city located in a strategic point with respect to trade. Representing one of the liveliest ports in the Mediterranean also meant witnessing the continuous passage not only of goods, but of men, ideas, suggestions from distant countries, which influenced not only the taste of their people, but above all art. This happened thanks to the circulation of prints, as well as pictorial specimens, to which are added the stays of great foreign artists and, above all, the permanence in the capital of a non-negligible number of Dutch, Flemish and German masters. An emblematic case in this regard comes from Pauwels Franck (Antwerp, 1540 - Venice, 1596), better known as Paolo Fiammingo, who established himself in his native city at a young age - in 1561 a figure enrolled in the Guild of San Luca - and arrived in Venice in 1573. . He resided in Venice from 1584 until his death, although the stylistic and formal references of some of his works have led critics to believe that in previous years he had undertaken a journey to central Italy, or to Florence and Rome, where he would have metabolized the lively cultural debate that permeated these cities and which, on the other hand, seemed completely absent in Venice. Here Paolo will be fascinated by the sense of color and by the atmospheric component fixed on the canvas by Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice 1518 - 1594), of which he becomes a collaborator, to undergo, around 1590, the suggestion of Paolo Caliari...

Category

16th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Madonna Angels Van Balen Paint Oil on table Old master 16/17th Century Flemish
Madonna Angels Van Balen Paint Oil on table Old master 16/17th Century Flemish

Madonna Angels Van Balen Paint Oil on table Old master 16/17th Century Flemish

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Hendrick van Balen (Antwerp 1575 - 1632) workshop Possible Jan van Balen (Antwerp 1611 - 1654) Madonna and Child with Three Angels Oil on panel 65 x 50 cm....

Category

17th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

ALLEGORICAL SCENE - Giovanni Faliero - Italy  Oil on Canvas Painting
ALLEGORICAL SCENE - Giovanni Faliero - Italy  Oil on Canvas Painting

ALLEGORICAL SCENE - Giovanni Faliero - Italy Oil on Canvas Painting

By Giovanni Faliero

Located in Napoli, IT

Allegorical Scene - Giovanni Faliero Italia 2009 - Oil on canvas cm. 90x110. This beautiful oil on canvas is the personal reinterpretation of the magnificent painting “Bacchant playing the Cymbals” by Jean-Simon Berthélemy, a French painter of the 18th century. Here we admire a mythological scene showing a naked bacchant playing cymbals next to a wooded stream, with a small sleeping faun...

Category

Early 2000s Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Hercules Guercino Paint 17th Century OIl on canvas Old master Emilian school Art
Hercules Guercino Paint 17th Century OIl on canvas Old master Emilian school Art

Hercules Guercino Paint 17th Century OIl on canvas Old master Emilian school Art

Located in Riva del Garda, IT

Workshop of Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino (1591–1666) Attributed to Ercole Gennari (Cento, 1597–Bologna, 1658) Victorious Hercules oil on canvas 136 x 112 cm. In ...

Category

17th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil

Dutch-Flemish Baroque old master - Late 17th century nobleman portrait oil
Dutch-Flemish Baroque old master - Late 17th century nobleman portrait oil

Dutch-Flemish Baroque old master - Late 17th century nobleman portrait oil

Located in Varmo, IT

European master (17th–18th century) - Portrait of a Nobleman. 81 x 65 cm (without frame) - 100.5 x 83.5 cm (with frame). Oil on canvas, in a carved and gilded wooden frame (not sig...

Category

17th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Fine 17th Century English Old Master Oil Painting Portrait Aristocratic Lady
Fine 17th Century English Old Master Oil Painting Portrait Aristocratic Lady

Fine 17th Century English Old Master Oil Painting Portrait Aristocratic Lady

Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Portrait of a Young English Aristocratic Lady English, circa 1670's period, unsigned oil on canvas laid on board, unframed canvas: 30 x 25 inches Provenance: private collection, UK C...

Category

Mid-17th Century Old Masters George Romney Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Previously Available Items
18th Century, English Portrait
18th Century, English Portrait

18th Century, English Portrait

By George Romney

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Large, softly painted, oil-on-canvas portrait of a British nobleman from the circle of important English artist, George Romney (1734-1802). The piece ...

Category

Late 18th Century George Romney Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

George Romney paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic George Romney paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by George Romney in oil paint, paint, canvas and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 18th century and is mostly associated with the Old Masters style. Not every interior allows for large George Romney paintings, so small editions measuring 25 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Sir Godfrey Kneller, Giulio Di Sotto, and Matthew Cook. George Romney paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $8,855 and tops out at $1,495,000, while the average work can sell for $15,500.
Questions About George Romney Paintings
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    George Romney studied under Christopher Steel from 1755-1757. Romney then went on to become one of the most fashionable portrait artists of his day. You can shop a selection of George Romney’s pieces from some of the world’s top art dealers on 1stDibs.