Visions of Fancy: George Romney, 18th-Century Paintings and Drawings October 14, 2012–January 20, 2013
George Romney, Portrait of Mrs. Andrew Reid, c. 1770–88, oil on canvas, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.
George Romney, William Watson, late 1750s, oil on canvas, the MFAH, the Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III.
George Romney, Millicent Watson, late 1750s, oil on canvas, the MFAH, the Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III.
George Romney, Sketchbook (drawing of horse and rider), 1783, pen and sepia ink, brush and sepia wash, and chalk, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III in honor of Mr. and Mrs. George R. Brown.
George Romney, Sketchbook (drawing of figures), 1783, pen and sepia ink, brush and sepia wash, and chalk, the MFAH, the Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III in honor of Mr. and Mrs. George R. Brown.
George Romney, Elizabeth, Lady Blunt, c. 1764, oil on canvas, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Rienzi Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Masterson III.
George Romney was one of the leading artists of late-18th-century England. He worked among an elite circle of British painters, including Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose patrons comprised London’s fashionable society. Romney established his career as a society portrait painter with a style of elegance and informality that won him a prestigious client list.
Rienzi, the MFAH house museum for European decorative arts and paintings, showcases Romney’s work in the exhibition Visions of Fancy. Although Romney (1734–1802) was best known for gorgeous oil paintings, his sketches and drawings reveal the hand of a powerful, sensitive, and innovative draftsman. Alongside examples of portraits, Visions of Fancy features a bound sketchbook showing figures in spontaneous motion on each page.
For more about Romney and Rienzi, visit the Guests from Abroad blog.
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.