Title
unknown (Woman in Blue) (detail), n.d., Beaverbrook Art
Gallery
Learn to Look at Male Portraits
Anthony Flower & George Romney
Click on image for complete view
Click on image for complete view
ANTHONY FLOWER Title Unknown (Flower Homestead with James), 1870
watercolour on paper
20.32 x 25.40
Private Collection
GEORGE ROMNEY Charles Lennox, later 4th Duke of Richmond, Duke of Lennox
and of Aubigny, 1776-77
oil on canvas
127.6 x 101.6 cm
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery
What we see
How would you describe the people in these
paintings? What do they have in common? What do you notice
that is different?
How we feel
What can you tell me about the boys in
these paintings? What do you think their lives were like?
What we think
Which boy would you rather be? Why?
How it was made
Professional portrait painters like Romney
would pose their subject in their studio in a constructed
indoor landscape. Can you see the outline of the stage he
is sitting on? Does knowing this change what you think about
these boys? Which painting do you like better? Why?
About the artist
George Romney (1734-1802) was one
of the key figures in British art in the late eighteenth
century. He was well-known for his portraits in his time
and rivaled both Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) and Thomas
Gainsborough (1727-1788), two of the greatest portrait painters
of all time. Romney had a bold and dramatic quality to his
work.
