George Sackville Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville (1716-1785) army officer and politician

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Portraitist George Romney was born at Beckside, Dalton-in-Furness. From 1755 to 1757 he was apprenticed to portrait painter Christopher Steele at Kendal, moving with him to York and Lancaster, before settling in London in 1762. He won two prizes from the Society of Arts (1763, 1765). From 1773 to 1775 he studied in Italy, predominantly Rome. He never exhibited at the Royal Academy and yet became a fashionable portraitist. In 1781 he first met Emma Hart; his muse until her marriage to Sir William Hamilton when she gave up sitting to the artist. Portraits of Emma, many impersonating mythological or allegorical characters, are now his best known works. He retired to Kendal, to the home of his estranged wife Mary, three years before his death.

People

George Sackville, 1st Viscount Sackville Germain (1716 - 1785)

Places

Subjects

ink pot/ink stand, male portrait, landscape C18th, 18th century costume, coat, waistcoat, wig, Viscount, sword, officer (army), house, window, table (as Subject)

Materials & Techniques

mezzotint

Artist

George Romney (1734 - 1802)
Johann Jacobé (1733 - 1797)

Title

George Sackville Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville (1716-1785) army officer and politician

Date

published 1 November 1780

Medium

Mezzotint

Acquisition

Purchased from Colnaghi, October 1953

GAC number

2316