13th Jul, 2024 9:30 GMT/BST
British, European & Sporting Art
1102
George Romney (1734-1802)
Caesar Hawkins, head study
Oil on canvas, 36cm by 32.5cm
Provenance: Commissioned from the artist
Thence by descent to Mrs Georgina Yorke, grand-daughter of Mrs Hawkins
Thence by descent
Private Collection
Born in Beckside near Dalton-in Furness, George Romney was apprenticed to Christopher Steele of Kendal, York and Lancaster 1755-57. He became active in the town 1757-62, and settled in London in 1762. In 1773 Romney travelled to Italy, studying chiefly in Rome, but some time was also spent in Parma and Venice. With a return to London, Romney took the house of Francis Cotes and became a fashionable portrait painter who could count amongst his contemporaries Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy.
At his studio in Cavendish Square, London in the summer of 1776, George Romney began a large family portrait of “Mrs Hawkins and her Children” which now forms part of a private collection (see entry 625 Alex Kidson, “George Romney”, Yale University Press, p291). As a result of Romney’s immaculate record keeping it is known that Mrs Hawkins and her son Caesar each had three sittings during June – August and that the latter did not sit again. However Mrs Hawkins returned to the studio a further 19 times (two appointments were cancelled) and her daughter, Louisa Anne was introduced to the composition making a sitting for the artist on 21 January 1778. What this tells us is that the final masterpiece took a long period to reach conclusion, that there were significant amendments and changes made. The present work was likely therefore to be a preparatory sketch made between 27th June & 1 July 1776, and the turned head pose did not end up in the finished work.
There is another potential and plausible reason for the existence of the present work however, based on an account provided by a certain Mrs Georgiana Yorke, who was the grand-daughter of Mrs Hawkins. She relayed that originally the painting commissioned from Romney was to include the two children and that it was actually the addition of Mrs Hawkins which was the re-working of the original idea. This does not necessarily correspond to the order of appointments and sittings which were taken with the artist, but does introduce the possibility that the present work might be a fragment from the discarded work to incorporate the mother of the siblings.
According to Mrs Yorke “it was cut out of the picture [Romney] began of my aunt and of my uncle (i.e. the two Hawkins children in the group portrait); but my grandfather was persuaded to have his wife’s portrait also added to that of the children. Romney then cut out the sketch of my uncle from the first canvas and gave it to my grandmother, saying that he thought it was one of the best turned heads he had ever done”.
Certainly the brilliance of brushwork evidenced in this charming study perfectly embodies the innocence and youth of the sitter and represents much of what made George Romney one of the leading portrait painters of his day.
Related Literature:
Kidson, Alex “George Romney”, Yale University Press (2015), no.625 &625a, p. 291 & 292
Waterhouse, Ellis “British 18th century Painters in oils and crayons”, Antique Collectors Club (1981)
Sold for £18,000
Estimated at £20,000 - £30,000
Lined, all tacking margins covered with brown paper tape. The dark brown canvas visible at the reverse is not adhered to the back of the lining canvas. Good tension, and the stretcher is secure in the frame. All keys are present, and the stretcher is keyed out by approx. 2mm at all corners. Dust and cobwebs to the reverse. There is only a little impasto on the painting, but those strokes are intact and not flattened, but have been pushed very slightly into the canvas. The original canvas is a coarse twill weave, the texture of which is apparent due to the thinly applied ground and paint layers.
A good, even picture plane. A network of brittle age and impact craquelure throughout. Not elevated with the exception of a few minor raised cracks at the edges in the top left corner (see image in raking light). All secure. Slightly denser passages of cracks associated with the stretcher bars. A few slightly open cracks to the right of the chin have been suppressed by retouching. There are scattered tiny/micro losses under the current varnish associated with past instablility. Only really visible under magnification.
There are several minor old restored losses, the largest approx. 1cm in the brown background level with the bottom of the ear. Restored, but not filled or textured. Four further smaller losses, retouched, below this parallel with the neck. A further small loss in the shoulder.
Thinly painted but likely some further abrasion to the paint layers in the delicate brown layers, notably in the hair, and the throat which has some minor strengthening and retouching of tiny losses. Minor abrasion in the black pupils, visible under magnification. Also the thinner brown background passages, with has some possible slight strengthening in places.
Old ingrained dirt and varnish visible in the troughs of the canvas and paint, with thicker residues in the background. A few bits of scattered fibres and bits of debris caught in the varnish, including tiny wood flakes in the bottom right corner and a tiny one above the head. A few dark marks top left.
A good even surface gloss from the upper varnish, not appreciably yellowed, with some small matt spots around the hairline to the right visible in reflected light. Minor surface accreations and dirt as the picture is glazed.
Examined in frame
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Auction: British, European & Sporting Art, 13th Jul, 2024
Sir Alfred Munnings is rightly celebrated as the master of equine art; his lifelong affinity with the horse is reflected in his insightful and vital equine portraits that capture the grace and power of the animals, and his “Lord Astor on Shooting Stick with Horses” will be sold in the British, European and Sporting Art Sale on 13th July. The painting is a sketch for “A Summer Evening at Cliveden, Waldorf Astor, Second Viscount Astor (1879-1952), seated”, which is held in the Cliveden Estate Collection in Buckinghamshire, now managed by the National Trust. From the same private collection is a watercolour by Munnings; “In the Woods Near Noyon 1918 Attack. Our Retreat” was executed whilst the artist was serving in the First World War with the Canadian Cavalry.
An engaging portrait sketch by the renowned George Romney, which has been in the same family collection since it was painted, will also be offered. The sketch depicts Caesar Hawkins and is thought to have been executed in preparation for a full-length portrait of Caesar, his sister Louisa Anne, and their mother Emma Hawkins (née Adair), which was once in the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Four works by one of the leading Victorian equestrian artists, Heywood Hardy are also on offer, hailing from two private collections.
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Sunday 7th July to Friday 12th July 11am-4pm and morning of sale from 8am
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