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Lot Essay
This painting belongs to a group of female three-quarter-length portraits within a painted oval, by George Romney, from the late 1770s and early 1780s in which the sinuous outline of the figure divides the picture space in half vertically. It can be compared with portraits such as Romney’s Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland and Miss Taubman (A. Kidson, op. cit., nos. 1263 and 1270).
Nothing is known of the sitter, Miss Williams, who is recorded in Romney’s sitter book as having had four appointments with the artist between 21 July and 4 August 1781 and who paid the artist 20 guineas in two installments, the last of which was received on 9 December 1782. Alex Kidson (loc. cit.) reasonably presumes the portrait is identical to that of a ‘Mrs. Williamson’, formerly in the collection of Colonel Seymour Cochran, noting that no client by the name of Mrs. Williamson is referenced in the artist’s papers. The confusion may have arisen due to a corruption of the sitter’s name.
Nothing is known of the sitter, Miss Williams, who is recorded in Romney’s sitter book as having had four appointments with the artist between 21 July and 4 August 1781 and who paid the artist 20 guineas in two installments, the last of which was received on 9 December 1782. Alex Kidson (loc. cit.) reasonably presumes the portrait is identical to that of a ‘Mrs. Williamson’, formerly in the collection of Colonel Seymour Cochran, noting that no client by the name of Mrs. Williamson is referenced in the artist’s papers. The confusion may have arisen due to a corruption of the sitter’s name.