George Romney Dalton 1734 - 1802 Kendal

Mr. Watson, London, brother of the sitter;
Mrs. Edward Wakefield, Camalway, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, Ireland, by 1904;
Cyrus Curtis, Philadelphia, Pennsylviana;
Richmond Art Museum, Richmond, Indiana;
By whom sold, New York, Sotheby's, April 20, 2001, lot 2.

H. Ward and W. Roberts, George Romney: a Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Works, vol. II, London 1904, p. 168.

This Portrait of Miss Watson dates to 1793, the year of her wedding to Mr. Wakefield.  Four sittings are recorded in July, and four more in August 1793, but the painting was not picked up from the artist's studio until December of the same year.  We also know that the bridegroom, Mr. Wakefield, footed the bill for the portrait, even though it remained in his wife's family after their union.  All these transactions are recorded in Romney's book of sittings and payments, which testifies to Romney's studio practice of carefully recording such dealings (see Literature).  Although Romney traveled to Revolutionary France in 1790 and admired the work of David and other neoclassical painters, few traces of their influence on Romney's work are discernable.  Indeed, even in his mature pictures, Romney remained faithful to the characteristics which had made him one of 18th century London's favorite portraitists, including his care in depicting the surface qualities of his sitter's skin and hair, as well as his talent in rendering a myriad of fabrics within a single composition.