DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.6915#0047
MEMOIRS OF GEORGE ROMNEY.
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character. That he possessed genius and talents in an eminent degree, no one
can deny. The learned editor of Pilkington's Dictionary has said, " That he
was made for the times, and the times for him." It had perhaps heen more just
to have observed, that Romney was made for better times than those he lived
in. His perception of art was far purer than most of his contemporaries, at
least in this country, were capable of enjoying ; and it must be remembered that
no one ever set forth in the career of an artist under greater disadvantages than
he did. The taste he imbibed for simplicity and grandeur, on seeing, at an
advanced period of his life, the works of the ancient artists, prove what might
have been fairly expected of him, had he happily been born under more favour-
able circumstances ; and early initiated, under good instructors, in the mysteries
of the art he cultivated with so much success without those helps.
Till the time he was twenty-two he had seen no better painting than the sign
at a public-house in the place where he was born : but to his active, enterpri-
zing spirit, all nature was a school ; and at an age when others are employed
in laying by stores of ideas from books, and thence forming regulations to guide
their future progress in art, he was industriously observing, and reflecting upon
the grand scenery around him, and the various characters of the objects he lived
among. Thus the little learning he had imbibed from the few literary works
he had seen, was called into immediate action, and his progress in real knowledge
became equal to what is usually obtained in the ordinary way, with greater
assistance from books and masters.
The pursuit of painting, however, requires a knowledge of certain rules in
the arrangement of lines; of the beauty and power of contrast, in light and
shade, and in form and colour ; also of the speediest and most efficient modes
of execution. This science, being the result of repeated observations upon
the principles by which nature produces her most agreeable and sublime effects
is most readily obtained, by a careful inspection of good works of art wherein
it is exemplified. Such advantage was not Romney's. He had to separate, for
himself, the partial from the general effects of nature ; and the inequality with
which he, in this point, met the rivalry of more fortunate artists, is too evident
in most of his productions. Frequently, his chiaro-scuro is ill conducted, and
his harmony of forms and colours imperfect ; even in pictures produced when
H
33
character. That he possessed genius and talents in an eminent degree, no one
can deny. The learned editor of Pilkington's Dictionary has said, " That he
was made for the times, and the times for him." It had perhaps heen more just
to have observed, that Romney was made for better times than those he lived
in. His perception of art was far purer than most of his contemporaries, at
least in this country, were capable of enjoying ; and it must be remembered that
no one ever set forth in the career of an artist under greater disadvantages than
he did. The taste he imbibed for simplicity and grandeur, on seeing, at an
advanced period of his life, the works of the ancient artists, prove what might
have been fairly expected of him, had he happily been born under more favour-
able circumstances ; and early initiated, under good instructors, in the mysteries
of the art he cultivated with so much success without those helps.
Till the time he was twenty-two he had seen no better painting than the sign
at a public-house in the place where he was born : but to his active, enterpri-
zing spirit, all nature was a school ; and at an age when others are employed
in laying by stores of ideas from books, and thence forming regulations to guide
their future progress in art, he was industriously observing, and reflecting upon
the grand scenery around him, and the various characters of the objects he lived
among. Thus the little learning he had imbibed from the few literary works
he had seen, was called into immediate action, and his progress in real knowledge
became equal to what is usually obtained in the ordinary way, with greater
assistance from books and masters.
The pursuit of painting, however, requires a knowledge of certain rules in
the arrangement of lines; of the beauty and power of contrast, in light and
shade, and in form and colour ; also of the speediest and most efficient modes
of execution. This science, being the result of repeated observations upon
the principles by which nature produces her most agreeable and sublime effects
is most readily obtained, by a careful inspection of good works of art wherein
it is exemplified. Such advantage was not Romney's. He had to separate, for
himself, the partial from the general effects of nature ; and the inequality with
which he, in this point, met the rivalry of more fortunate artists, is too evident
in most of his productions. Frequently, his chiaro-scuro is ill conducted, and
his harmony of forms and colours imperfect ; even in pictures produced when
H