Sir Samuel Romilly

This portraitback to top

There is no apparent record of sittings for this portrait though they probably took place shortly after his appointment in 1806 as Solicitor-General in Grenville's Ministry of All the Talents.
Henry Bone exhibited an enamel copy RA 1820 (852) for which drawings are in the NPG library (Henry Bone’s annotated pencil drawings for miniatures and enamels, III, 28, 30) and an engraving by Woodman was used for Knight's Gallery of Portraits, 1835, VIII. A wax high-relief by Samuel Percy, Sotheby's 16 May 1957 (97), derives distantly from Lawrence's oil and probably from S. W. Reynolds's mezzotint.

Physical descriptionback to top

Head and shoulders slightly to right, aged about 50, in dark grey coat, white shirt-frill, grey hair, grey-green eyes, fresh complexion; crimson upholstered chair and curtain background.

Provenanceback to top

Family possession and bequeathed by his fifth son Charles to the National Gallery in 1887; on loan to the NPG since 1898.

Exhibitionsback to top

NPE 1868 (50) lent by Charles Romilly.

Reproductionsback to top

Mezzotint by S. W. Reynolds, undated (Alfred Whitman, S. W. Reynolds, 1903, 251); a smaller Reynolds mezzotint was published by Ridgway 10 May 1820; stipple by Finden 1840 was used as frontispiece to his Memoirs of the Life of Sir Samuel Romilly ... edited by his Sons.


This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: Richard Walker, Regency Portraits, National Portrait Gallery, 1985, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for Sir Thomas Lawrence

View all known portraits for Sir Samuel Romilly