Romney, George (1734–1802)

English painter. Active in London from 1762, he became, with Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, one of the most successful portrait painters of the late 18th century. His best work is to be found in the straightforward realism of The Beaumont Family (1777–79; National Gallery, London) or the simple charm of The Parson's Daughter (c. 1785; Tate Gallery, London).

A visit to Italy (1773–75) filled him with the ambition to paint classical and imaginative compositions, and from 1782 to 1785 he drew and painted Lady Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson, whom he admired obsessively, in many preliminary studies for mythological or allegorical themes he was ill-fitted to carry out. He retired to his home county of Lancashire in 1789.

Romney was born at Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, the son of a carpenter and cabinet-maker. He originally worked for ten years at his father's trade. After provincial training as a painter in Kendal and York, he moved to London in 1762 leaving behind a wife from whom he remained separated until his return in 1789, broken in health and spirit.