Cambridge Library Collection - Art and Architecture
1 total work
Begun in 1803 and published in 1809, this biography of George Romney (1734-1802) was the first work to examine the character and artistic contribution of this celebrated portraitist. A close friend and patron of the painter, the author William Hayley (1745-1820) presents a frank and sometimes unflattering depiction of Romney's private and professional life and his personal idiosyncrasies. The candid nature of the work quickly attracted the attention of the reading public, yet Hayley's account so offended Romney's son John that it prompted him to produce his Memoirs of the Life and Works of George Romney (1830), which is also reissued in this series. Enhanced by the addition of an appendix containing the verse epistles that Hayley addressed to Romney, the present work sheds much light on the art world and patronage in Britain during the long eighteenth century.