George Romney
British, 1734-1802
Portrait of a Mother and her Child
31 1/2 x 25 3/4 inches (80 x 65.4 cm)
Provenance:
[Sale] Phillips, London, June 11, 1985, lot 30
Phillips, London, December 17, 1985, lot 23
[Sale] Christie's, New York, Nov. 4, 1986, lot 61
Literature:
Alex Kidson, George Romney: Complete Catalogue of his Paintings (New Haven and London, 2015), Vol. III, p. 761, no. 1691, illus. (as an untraced work from the middle to late 1790s).
This is one of three known versions of this composition. A fragmentary old label on the reverse of the frame bears the handwritten inscription: Mrs. Lock/by Romney. According to a recent communication from Alex Kidson, "This may mean that she was, or was thought to be, Cecilia Ogilvie, daughter of the celebrated Emily Lennox, Duchess of Leinster, who married Charles Lock in 1795. The couple's first child called Emily, a girl, was born the following year. Cecilia was held to be a beauty, and her mother, who had patronized Romney years before, could in principle have commissioned this work as a 'fancy portrait,' in the knowledge that Romney was disaffected with orthodox society portraiture by this date. " An oil sketch by Romney for this composition was sold at Sotheby's London on July 7, 2011 as lot 316.
We are most grateful to Alex Kidson for his assistance in cataloguing this work.

C

Glue relined. Dense varnish layer; difficult to see restoration under UV light. Craquelure visible throughou, inlcuding some bituman cracking. Impasto flattened. Contours reinforced.
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