page_title: George Romney (painter)
section_title: Early life and training
hierarchical_section_title: George Romney (painter) / Early life and training
caption_attribution_description: The Stafford Children: Lady Anne (1761-1832), Lady Georgiana Augusta Leveson-Gower, later Countess of St Germans (1769-1806), Lady Susan Leveson-Gower, later Countess of Harrowby (c.1771-1838), Lady Charlotte Sophia Leveson-Gower, later Duchess of Beaufort (1771-1854) and Granville Leveson-Gower, later 1st Earl Granville (1773-1846)
context_page_description: George Romney was an English portrait painter. He was the most fashionable artist of his day, painting many leading society figures – including his artistic muse, Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson.
context_section_description: Romney was born in Beckside in Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire (now part of Cumbria), the 3rd son (of 11 children) of John Romney, cabinet maker, and Anne Simpson. Raised in a cottage named High Cocken in modern-day Barrow-in-Furness, he was sent to school at nearby Dendron. He appears to have been an indifferent student and was withdrawn at the age of 11 and apprenticed to his father's business instead.
  He proved to have a natural ability for drawing and making things from wood – including violins (which he played throughout his life). From the age of 15, he was taught art informally by a local watchmaker called John Williamson, but his studies began in earnest in 1755, when he went to Kendal, at the age of 21, for a 4-year apprenticeship with local artist Christopher Steele – a portraitist who had himself studied with distinguished French artist Carlo Vanloo. All costs were to be borne by George's father.
  In October 1756, Romney married Mary Abbot (a decision he initially regretted), but the couple were immediately separated when he was called away to York on business by his employer. After a year, Steele eventually agreed to cancel the apprenticeship, at George's request, leaving the young artist – now a father of a son – free to pursue his own career as a painter.
caption: The children of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, 1776–7, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1425", "Image ImageLength": "1242", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2014:08:23 15:51:04", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "296", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1058", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "0", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "18", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:10:17 15:16:12", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:10:17 15:16:12", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "6", "EXIF ApertureValue": "67/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "45", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2850", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2484", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto"}