European Painting before 1900, Johnson Collection Portrait of Emma Hart [later Lady Hamilton] as Miranda 1785 or 1786 George Romney, English, 1734 - 1802 Oil on canvas * Gallery 298, European Art 1500-1850, second floor M1928-1-34 The John Howard McFadden Collection, 1928 |
LabelEmma Hart, a beautiful woman of modest means, gained fame through her liaisons with English aristocrats. While married to Sir William Hamilton, British ambassador to Naples, she openly carried on a stormy romance with the naval hero Admiral Lord Nelson. In her youth she was one of Romney's favorite models. She is shown here as Miranda, the heroine of Shakespeare's Tempest, at the moment in act I, scene 2 when she begs her magician father Prospero to spare sailors shipwrecked in a storm he had raised.* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit. |
