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Portrait of Emma Hart, later Lady Hamilton
George Romney (English, 1734–1802)
about 1784
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Height x length: 74.9 x 61.6 cm (29 1/2 x 24 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild
Accession Number2019.651
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
ProvenanceFebruary 7, 1792, probably sent by the artist to Rev. Louis Dutens (b. 1730 - d. 1812), London [see note 1]. 19th century, Countess Woronzow, probably Maria Vassilievna Woronzow (or Vorontzov) (b. 1819 - d. 1895), Florence; sold by a member of the Woronzow family, through Lawrie and Co., to Nathaniel von Rothschild (b. 1836 - d. 1905), Vienna [see note 2]; by descent to his nephew, Alphonse de Rothschild (b. 1878 – d. 1942) and Clarice de Rothschild (b. 1894 – d. 1967), Vienna; 1938, confiscated from Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild by Nazi forces (no. AR 850); [see note 3]; taken to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, stored at the Central Depot, Neue Burg, Vienna; September 13, 1940, selected for the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (GG 9022); 1941, removed to the monastery of Kremsmünster and subsequently to Alt Aussee; 1945, recovered by Allied forces; 1947, returned to Clarice de Rothschild, New York [see note 4]; by descent to her daughter, Bettina Looram de Rothschild (b. 1924 - d. 2012); about 1990/1992, given by Bettina Looram de Rothschild to members of her family; 2019, gift of the heirs of Bettina Looram de Rothschild to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 19, 2019)
NOTES:
[1] This is probably the three-quarter length portrait of Lady Hamilton in a black hat that the sitter urged Romney to send to her friend, Louis Dutens, in 1791. Romney recorded in his ledger, no. 444: "old one finished and sent to Mr. Dutens, Feb. 7, 1792." The identification of that painting with the present picture was made by Alex Kidson in his catalogue raisonné of the artist. Also see Humphry Ward and W. Roberts, Romney: a biographical and critical essay with a catalogue raisonné of his works (London, 1904), vol. 2, p. 181.
[2] See Ward and Roberts, 1904 (as above, n. 1), vol. 2, p. 187, cat. no. 45. Nathaniel Rothschild, Notizen über einige meiner Kunstgegenstände (Vienna, 1903), p. 31, cat. no. 55; and Inventar über die in den Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild'schen Nachlass gehörigen, in dem Palais in Wien, IV. Bezirk, Theresianumgasse Nr. 14 befindlichen Kunstgegenstände und Einrichtungsstücke (Vienna, 1906), p. 378, no. 40.
[3] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. Their works of art were made available to the state museums, and this painting was selected for the Kunsthistorisches Museum. It appears in a Nazi-generated inventory of 1939 as no. AR (Alphonse Rothschild) 850: "Romney. Damenbildnis, Halbfigur. Leinwand." Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien, Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 1031.
[4] This painting was catalogued at the Central Depot, and selected by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1940. Card no. AR 850, Bundesdenkmalamt, Vienna, available on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien online. It was probably among the many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis, which were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the looted artwork at the end of World War II, and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. In 1947 Clarice de Rothschild visited the salt mines at Alt Aussee, where she was able to identify the crates of works of art from her family’s collection, facilitating its return shortly thereafter. The date of return is noted on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien.
NOTES:
[1] This is probably the three-quarter length portrait of Lady Hamilton in a black hat that the sitter urged Romney to send to her friend, Louis Dutens, in 1791. Romney recorded in his ledger, no. 444: "old one finished and sent to Mr. Dutens, Feb. 7, 1792." The identification of that painting with the present picture was made by Alex Kidson in his catalogue raisonné of the artist. Also see Humphry Ward and W. Roberts, Romney: a biographical and critical essay with a catalogue raisonné of his works (London, 1904), vol. 2, p. 181.
[2] See Ward and Roberts, 1904 (as above, n. 1), vol. 2, p. 187, cat. no. 45. Nathaniel Rothschild, Notizen über einige meiner Kunstgegenstände (Vienna, 1903), p. 31, cat. no. 55; and Inventar über die in den Nathaniel Freiherr von Rothschild'schen Nachlass gehörigen, in dem Palais in Wien, IV. Bezirk, Theresianumgasse Nr. 14 befindlichen Kunstgegenstände und Einrichtungsstücke (Vienna, 1906), p. 378, no. 40.
[3] With the Anschluss, or annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March, 1938, the possessions of Alphonse and Clarice de Rothschild were seized and expropriated almost immediately by Nazi forces. Their works of art were made available to the state museums, and this painting was selected for the Kunsthistorisches Museum. It appears in a Nazi-generated inventory of 1939 as no. AR (Alphonse Rothschild) 850: "Romney. Damenbildnis, Halbfigur. Leinwand." Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien, Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lillie, "Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens" (Vienna, 2003), p. 1031.
[4] This painting was catalogued at the Central Depot, and selected by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in 1940. Card no. AR 850, Bundesdenkmalamt, Vienna, available on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien online. It was probably among the many works of art stored elsewhere by the Nazis, which were moved to the abandoned salt mines of Alt Aussee in Austria, to be kept safe from wartime bombing. Allied troops recovered the looted artwork at the end of World War II, and established collecting points where the art could be identified for restitution to its rightful owners. In 1947 Clarice de Rothschild visited the salt mines at Alt Aussee, where she was able to identify the crates of works of art from her family’s collection, facilitating its return shortly thereafter. The date of return is noted on the website of the Zentral Depot Karteien.