Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.541
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
gentleman | man | music | musician | cliffs | breeches | rural | violin | instrument | figure study | landscape
Currently On View:
On view at the Yale University Art Gallery
Exhibition History:
Romney: Brilliant Contrasts in Georgian England (Yale University Art Gallery, 2025-03-28 - 2025-09-14)Art in Focus : John Flaxman Modeling Bust of William Hayley (Yale Center for British Art, 2010-02-04 - 2010-05-30)Art and Music in Britain: Four Encounters, 1730-1900 (Yale Center for British Art, 2006-10-05 - 2006-12-31)The Conversation Piece - Arthur Devis & His Contemporaries (Yale Center for British Art, 1980-10-01 - 1980-11-30)
Publications:
Timothy J. Barringer, Art & music in Britain : four encounters, 1730-1900 (exhibition and label text), , New Haven, 2006, [p. 39], V 1699:1 (YCBA)Timothy J. Barringer, Art & music in Britain : four encounters, 1730-1900, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 2006, pp. 16, 21, V 1699 (YCBA)David Brenneman, Romney Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Transactions of the Romney Society, vol. 1, 1996, p. 18, NJ18 R65 T7 1996 (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 190-191, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)Ellen G. D'Oench, The Conversation Piece: Arthur Devis & his contemporaries, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1980, pp. 57-58, 73, cat. no. 58, NJ18 D5151 D64 OVERSIZEAlex Kidson, George Romney : a complete catalogue of his paintings, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 2015, v. 2, pp. 499-500, cat. no. 1114, col. pl. 1114, NJ18.R65 A12 +K54 2015 v.1-3 (YCBA)B. E. Maclean-Eltham, George Romney : Paintings in public collections, , The Romney Society, Kendal, Cumbria, England, 1996, p. 62, NJ18 R65 M33 1996
Gallery Label:
It has been suggested that this early work is a self-portrait. A passionate violin player, Romney crafted stringed instruments in his youth and found himself torn between a career in painting or music. When he became a painter, music remained central to his creative life, and he often played his violin while pondering his paintings. As his son later wrote, "The two arts conspired, and the harmony of the picture was improved by the harmony of the music." Gallery label for Romney: Brilliant Contrasts in Georgian England (Yale University Art Gallery, 2025-03-28 - 2025-09-14)