Some Old Time Beauties | Page 6

posing for Dr. Graham, that Romney
became enamoured of her beauty, and painted for us more than a dozen
important pictures of her. Those were the days when ladies of rank and
beauty were deified; and, following this fashion, Romney rendered

"Fair Emma" in many guises. Her ability in acting made her a most
useful model. Her features had much mobility, and were capable of
expressing, with facility, all gradations of passion and niceties of
feeling. Emma took pride and pleasure in serving Romney. He repeated
to his friend, the poet Hayley, her request, that in the biography of the
painter, Hayley would have much to say of her. One of his earliest
classical conceptions painted from her, was a full length of Circe with
her wand. Following this was a "Sensibility," which became the
property of Hayley. Though we remember Romney chiefly in
connection with his Lady Hamiltons, yet he had acquired his reputation
and much fortune ere he met her. The great bulk of his portrayals of the
nobility preceded his classical subjects, which took form from his
superb model. She was Cassandra; she was Iphigenia, St. Cæcilia,
Bacchante, Calope, The Spinstress, Joan of Arc, The Pythian Princess
Calypso, and Magdalene,--the two latter subjects painted to order for
the then Prince of Wales.
Allan Cunningham has this to say in his sketch of Romney's life: "A
lady in the character of a saint. This sort of flattery, once so prevalent
with painters, is now nearly worn out: we have now no Lady Betty's
enacting the part of Diana; no Lady Jane's tripping it barefoot among
the thorns and brambles of this weary world, in the character of Hebe.
We have none now who either 'sinner it or saint it' on canvas; the
flattery which the painter has to pay is of a more scientific kind,--he has
to trust alone to the truth of his drawing and the harmony of his colors."
Romney was a transgressor in this way at times; but Lady Hamilton's
form was used to impart correct form to the conceptions of the
painter,--not the theme used merely to exploit the beauty of the lady. In
the exhibition of fair women in the Grafton Gallery in London this
summer, she greeted us in the guise of Ariadne. In this the painter's use
of the title was apt and justifiable. Here is the lady wholly clothed in
the dress of the time,--a dress superb in its simplicity; but her pose and
mien is indicative of the forsaken, the forlorn, despairing woman
abandoned by her lover,--the fate of which the old story of the Greeks
is the eternal epitome. The pathos of the pose, it may have been, as well
as the classic face, allured the wanderer in the galleries, and anchored
him before this canvas.
The fame of Romney has steadily risen in the several generations from

the beginning to the end of the century. Though the painter of many
men of fame and ladies of fashion, his work was not held in the greatest
regard in his lifetime. Though often spoken of as the rival of Reynolds,
he had not the president's grasp of character or his ability in giving
classic grace to the dress of the period, and he was never admitted as a
member to the Academy.
When Lady Hamilton commenced posing for him, he, perhaps wisely
for his fame, reduced the number of his ordinary sitters, receiving none
until afternoon. The picturing of what he termed "her divine beauty"
became a passion with him; and the enthusiasm of the sitter was nearly
as great as that of the painter, and she enacted his classic conceptions.
The result is a superb series of pictures of faultless female form, and
loveliness of feature. Of the model's immoral career we have naught
now to do. Here is perpetual beauty, and it is ours to enjoy.

[Illustration: MRS SHERIDAN by REYNOLDS]
ST. CÆCILIA
There are few names more associated with the brilliant days of Bath,
the days of its social and artistic prominence, than those of Thomas
Linley, the composer, and of his daughter, Eliza Anne, known abroad
as "the Fair Maid of Bath." Linley was born there, in 1735; and after
his studies in music on the Continent, under Paradies, he returned to the
then fashionable city on the Avon. He conducted oratorios and concerts
there, and became a power in the community. Delicacy, tenderness,
simplicity, and taste were the characteristics of his compositions. It was
said of him, that as Garrick had restored Shakspeare, so Linley has
restored the sublime music of Handel. He trained his family to take part
in the performances. His son Thomas, born in 1756, developed a
marvellous ability in music,--playing the violin with great brilliancy
and expression. He was the friend