Viola Surviving the Shipwreck off the Coast of Illyria, from “Twelfth Night”
c. 1776
Medium
Black chalk and charcoal on ivory laid paper, edge mounted on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Primary support: 29.7 × 48.9 cm (11 3/4 × 19 5/16 in.); Secondary support: 36 × 55.4 cm (14 3/16 × 21 13/16 in.)
Classification
prints and drawing
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
186402
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
George Romney’s reputation as a portraitist rivaled that of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, the leading figures of 18th-century British painting. Romney’s true ambition to be a history painter, however, was not fully realized until the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery was opened in 1786. This drawing is one of hundreds by Romney, most of which are in pen and wash, illustrating Shakespeare, Milton, and Greco-Roman mythology. The artist’s sweeping gestures with pen and wash emphasize the s...
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...