Lady Seated at a Table (recto); Dancing Figures (verso)

George Romney

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

After three years studying art in Italy, Romney returned to London in 1775 and established himself as a successful portrait painter. He attracted important patrons and charged fees only slightly below those commanded by Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. Romney often made rapid working studies when exploring compositions; here he used pen to define the figure and expressive passages of wash to establish light and shade. Since the sitter is seen in profile writing a letter, she may relate to a contemplated literary subject rather than a portrait. Wishing to extend his range toward history painting, Romney began a series of female figures in the 1780s inspired by characters in poems and novels.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art