Portrait of a Man 1758 - 1760

George Romney painted this portrait of an unknown man in oil on canvas in the late 18th century. Here we see a gentleman in a casual pose with a landscape and musical instruments in the background. Romney was one of the most sought-after portrait painters in Britain. He came to define British portraiture during a time of immense social and cultural change. The placement of the subject in front of a classical landscape was a way to associate the sitter with ancient virtues and aristocratic ideals. But paintings like this are also documents of social history. The man’s clothing tells us something about the fashion of the time, and his pose indicates the kind of self-assuredness associated with the English gentry. The inclusion of musical instruments might be a symbolic reference to the sitter's sophisticated lifestyle. As historians, our understanding of art is enriched by looking at the social and institutional contexts in which art is made. Examining letters and journals can reveal a lot about the social function of portraiture at this time.