The Leveson-Gower Children, 1777
Oil on canvas
202cm x 232cm
George Romney was born near Dalton-in-Furness in Cumbria and started his career in Kendal. After moving to London in 1762, he became one of the leading portrait painters of Georgian society. Romney secured his reputation as a painter of children with this group portrait, produced midway during his career when he was at the height of his powers.
It depicts the five youngest children of Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower. It was Lord Gower, along with his wife Lady Susanna, who commissioned the portrait in 1776. Romney started work on the picture after returning from an extended trip to Italy, where he was deeply influenced by the classical sculpture and paintings he saw. On his outward journey he was delighted by the sight of girls dancing in Nice during the May Day celebrations: ‘Hand in hand… they were perfectly in time with another and moved with the greatest vivacity and spirit: the air of antiquity had the most enchanting effect.’
All these different elements and influences were uppermost in Romney’s mind when he began work on The Leveson-Gower Children in 1777. With this dynamic and innovative composition, he created one of the most original and ambitious paintings of his career.
Purchased 1973 with the assistance of the V&A Museum Purchase Grant Fund, the Art Fund, HM Government, Westmorland County Council, Provincial Insurance, the Friends of Abbot Hall and other private donations.
In more detail...
- Anne
Lady Anne (1761–1832) is the oldest of the five children in the painting but was the youngest of Lord Gower’s children by his second wife, Lady Louisa Egerton. In 1784, Lady Anne married the Reverend Edward Vernon Harcourt, Archbishop of York.
- Georgina
Lady Georgina (1769–1806) became Countess of St Germans after marrying the Hon. William Eliot in 1797.
- Charlotte
Lady Charlotte Sophia (1771–1854) later became the Duchess of Beaufort.
- Susanna
Lady Susanna (1772–1838) later became Countess of Harrowby.
- Granville
Lord Granville (1773–1846) was only four years old at the time of the painting’s completion and had not yet been ‘breeched’ (dressed in male clothing). He later became Viscount Granville and 1st Earl Granville. He was not originally going to be included in the composition and only makes an appearance in later preparatory sketches for the work.
- The dancing children
The idea for the circle of children in the composition has multiple sources. The sight of girls dancing around a maypole in Nice was one inspiration; this itself triggered associations with classical paintings that Romney had witnessed on his travels through Italy. In his recollections of the dancing girls, Romney mentions ‘the Hours of Guido’, a reference to Guido Reni’s Aurora, in which the dancing ‘Hours’ accompany the figure of Apollo as he is pulled along in a chariot by the figure of ‘Dawn’ (Aurora). The French classical painter, Nicolas Poussin, was also an influence: Poussin’s Adoration of the Golden Calf, 1633-4, A Dance to the Music of Time, c1634-6, and A Bacchanalian Revel before a Term, 1632-3, all focus on dancing circles of figure.
- Classical accessories
Hidden in the shadows in the bottom right-hand corner of the painting are several items that would not look out of place in a painting by Nicolas Poussin. These include a ewer (a wine or water vessel) as well as fruit and flowers. Unlike his great rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Romney used such props more for compositional purposes than for their symbolic value, although here they act as a pointer to his classical influences.
- Technique
By the time Romney painted The Leveson-Gower Children, his style had become much looser and spontaneous when compared to his early portraits. His confident brushstrokes convey the maximum amount of information with an economy of means that is very modern in approach. In this detail, light on the nose is conveyed by a single blob of pale impasto (thick paint) while patches of bare canvas poke through the thin paint layers around the features.
