Self-Portrait

About this artwork

George Romney painted this self-portrait in the winter of 1795 when he was sixty years old. The oil on canvas depicts the artist with striking immediacy, painted in a single session with what his son described as "uncommon power of execution." The portrait reveals both Romney's technical mastery and the physical toll of his artistic career. According to the artist's son, Reverend John Romney, the portrait exhibits "a certain expression of languor that indicates the approach of disease," as Romn...

Art Historical Context

In the winter of 179, George Romney, then 60 years old, painted striking *Self-Portrait* in oil canvas during a single session—an extraordinary feat showcasing his "uncommon power of execution as noted by his son, Reverend John Romney. At 30 x 25 inches, the work captures the artist with vivid immediacy, his face fully realized while the background and details remain summarily treated. This technique mirrored the practices of England's leading portraitists, like Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, among whom Romney was the most fashionable during his prime. Remarkably, Romney executed the portrait without the spectacles he had long relied upon, demonstrating his enduring visual acuity amid advancing age. Yet, the image unflinchingly reveals the physical toll of his career: a "certain expression of languor" signaling the onset of the illness that would soon end painting days. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Paintings department, this bequest from 1914 exemplifies Romney's psychological depth. Far from an idealized image, the portrait stands as one of the era's most poignant self-assessments, confronting mortality with raw honesty and technical mastery. It's a window into the vulnerabilities of a celebrated artist at life's twilight.

About the Artist

George Romney · 1734–1802

George Romney (1734–1802) was a British portrait painter who, alongside Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, formed the triumvirate of great English portraitists in the second half of the eighteenth century. Born in Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, he received his early training from the itinerant portrait painter Christopher Steele before moving to London in 1762. Romney quickly establishe...