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Provenance

Noted as given by the sitter in 1789 to his nephew, the Hon. Charles Francis Greville [1749-1809];[1] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 31 March 1810, no. 41); probably bought on behalf of the Hon. Robert Fulke Greville [1751-1824],[2] brother of Charles Francis Greville; bequest to his wife, Louisa, Countess of Mansfield [d. 1843]; by inheritance to their daughter, Lady Louisa Greville [d. 1883], wife of the Reverend the Hon. Daniel Hatton [1795-1866], rector of Great Weldon and chaplain to the queen; by descent to Nigel Hatton [1859-1937]. (Asher Wertheimer, London), by 1917;[3] sold 1917 to (M. Knoedler & Co., London and New York); purchased 1918 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; gift by 1937 to his daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969), New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1996
Vases and Volcanoes: Sir William Hamilton and His Collection, The British Museum, London, 1996, no. 8, repro.
1998
"Designs from Fancy": George Romney's Shakespearean Drawings, The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., 1998-1999, no. 11.
2008
Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture around the Bay of Naples, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2008-2009, no. 118, repro. (shown only in Washington).

Technical Summary

The medium-weight canvas is twill woven; it has been lined. The ground is a light pinkish red, of moderate thickness. The painting is broadly executed in fairly thin, opaque layers with transparent red and brown glazes in the shadows. The glazes have been abraded. The moderately thick natural resin varnish has discolored yellow to a significant degree.

Bibliography

1785
Public Advertiser, 13 April 1785.
1904
Ward, Humphry and William Roberts. Romney. 2 vols. London, 1904: 1:103; 2:69-70.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 310, repro.
1975
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 512, color repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 365, no. 510. colo repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 356, repro.
1992
Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 239-240, repro. 239.

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