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The infant Shakespeare attended by Nature and the Passions [graphic] / George Romney.

[ca. 1791]

1 painting on canvas : oil ; 143.5 x 203 cm

canvas

"Nature is represented with her face unveiled to her favourite Child, who is placed between Joy and Sorrow. On the Right-Hand of Nature are Love, Hatred, and Jealousy; on her Left-Hand, Anger, Envy, and Fear" -- A Catalogue of the Pictures, &c. in the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall, 1791 (same text also in 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1796).

Inscribed in sky at upper center: "SHAKSPERE".
Preparatory drawings: Romney was a prolific draftsman and numerous sketches survive that are related to the theme of the birth of Shakespeare. It is, however, often difficult to pin these works down to a specific painting. Of the drawings in the Folger, those that are possibly preparatory to "The Infant Shakespeare" are the following: ART Vol. ca. 60.101 (verso), 60.102 (verso), and ART Flat b7.70. A drawing of the three passions on the right is reproduced in "The Drawings of George Romney," Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass., 1962, pl. 21.
Versions: A sketch (oil on panel, 18 1/2 x 24 in.) is in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre PIcture Gallery, Stratford-upon-Avon.
Title from Pressly.

Engravings: Benjamin Smith, published by J. & J. Boydell, 29 September 1799, 19 5/8 x 24 7/8 in.; the picture was also engraved in outline on a small scale by Starling and Normand fils.

Provenance: Painted for Alderman John Boydell for the Shakespeare Gallery; sold by lottery 28 January 1805 and won by William Tassie; sold by Christie, Manson & Woods, Auctioneers, 8 King St., St. James's Square, London, 18 May 1805, lot 41, as "The Infant Shakespear-Poetically composed, tastefully drawn, and charmingly coloured," bought by Michael Bryan (1757-1821), picture dealer and author of Biographical and Critical Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, for 62 guineas (£65.2.0); collection of Thomas Chamberlayne by 1848; by descent to his grandson Tankerville Chamberlayne (1843-1924) of Cranbury Park, Winchester; bought 1905 by Norman Forbes-Robertson (1858-1932), the actor and brother of the celebrated actor Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson; Christie, Manson & Woods, Auctioneers, 8 King St., St. James's Square, London, 19 May 1911, lot 121, £420, bought by Gilbert. (A scrawling handwriting in white can be found in a number of places on the stretcher. Of those passages that are legible are the following two: "Scrimgeour Esq." and "May 19-11." This date is of course that of the Christie's sale, and the most logical candidate for this surname is Rev. John C. Scrimgeour, the editor of three plays by Shakespeare, published in 1914, 1916, and 1921. Presumably, Scrimgeour had some involvement with the painting at this point.)

Bought August 1927 by Folger through Gabriel Wells, Importer and Dealer, 145 W. 57th St., New York; 489 5th Ave., £10,500 ($51,074.94)

Exhibited: London, Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, "A Catalogue of the Pictures, &c. in the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall," 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1796, not numbered but placed at end of the painting listed for these years in the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery catalogues as "The Infant Shakespeare, Attended by Nature and the Passions"; London, Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, "A Catalogue of the Pictures &c. in the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall" and "A Catalogue of Small Pictures Painted for the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall" (only one number sequence for both large and small paintings), 1802, no. 87; London, Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, "The Exhibition of the Shakspeare Gallery, Pall-Mall," (last time paintings were shown together; preparatory to their sale), 1805, no. 138; London, British Institution, "Catalogue of Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters," 1848, no. 118; London, British Institution, "Catalogue of Pictures by Italian ... and English Masters," 1863, no. 182; London, Grafton Galleries, "Exhibition of a Special Selection from the Works by George Romney," 1900, no. 61, and "Exhibition of a Second Selection from the Works by George Romney," 1900-1901, no. 46 (both times the painting is listed as "Shakespeare Nursed by Tragedy and Comedy); Washington, D.C., Federal Reserve Board, "Eighteenth- and Nineteenth Century English Painting," 1976-1977, no. 18; San Francisco, California Academy of Sciences, and six other cities in traveling exhibition organized by the Folger Shakespeare Library, "Shakespeare: The Globe and the World," 1979-1982, repr. p. 186; Montgomery, Ala., Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, "A Brush with Shakespeare: The Bard in Painting, 1780-1910," 1985-1986, no. 56; 'As imagination bodies forth...' [paintings] Oct. 28, 1993-Feb. 15, 1994, no. 176; Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, "Designs from Fancy: George Romney's Shakespearean Drawings," 1998-1999, no. 49.
Washington, D.C. Folger Shakespeare Library, 2016. Will and Jane: Shakespeare, Austen, and the Cult of Celebrity.
Washington, DC, Folger Shakespeare Library, May 2017- February 2018. Painting Shakespeare.

Pressly, W.L. Paintings in the Folger Shakespeare Library, 176 (Plate 27)

FPa49

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cs1717