GEORGE ROMNEY (BRITISH 1734-1802)
EMMA HAMILTON AS A BACCHANTE
£16,380
Auction: 15 JANUARY 2025 FROM 10:00 GMT
Description
oil on canvas
Dimensions
38cm x 31cm (15in x 12.25in)
Provenance
Sotheby’s, 20 July 1987, lot 38 (withdrawn);
Sotheby’s, 17 February 1988, lot 255.
Footnote
Literature: Alex Kidson, George Romney, A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, 2015, p. 673, no. 148c as Private collection, London, canvas 38 x 30.5 cm.
Alex Kidson describes this as an unusual preparatory work for the larger version of Emma Hamilton as a Bacchante, now in a private Swedish collection. Kidson suggests the considerable difference between the two designs suggests Romney experienced difficulty in conceptualising it. The small figures in the left background have parallels with other sketchy Romney oils of the 1790s.