Portrait d'Ann Morley née Barlow (vers 1741-1787) dans une robe blanche, à mi-corps

GEORGE ROMNEY (DALTON-IN-FURNESS 1734-1802 KENDAL)
Portrait d'Ann Morley née Barlow (vers 1741-1787) dans une robe blanche, à mi-corps
huile sur toile
77 x 63,5 cm (31¹⁄₄ x 25 in.)

Commandé par le mari du modèle, James Morley (1742-1798), Esq., et achevé le 12 juin 1787 (selon T. Humphry Ward, W. Roberts, 1904, op. cit. infra) ;
Puis par descendance à sa fille, Harriette Poulter (1793-1845) née Morley, et à son époux, Rev. Brownlow Poulter (1789-1829), Rector of Buriton ;
Puis par descendance à leur fils, Brownlow Poulter (1825/1826-1907), Western Parade, Southsea, Portsmouth ; sa vente après-décès [Important Pictures by Old Masters and Works of the Early English School], Christie, Manson & Woods, Londres, 28 mars 1908, lot 137 (erronément repris comme 'Portrait of Mrs. Dorothea Morley (née Jarvis, of Doddington Hall, Lincoln), wife of James Morley, Esq.') ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Agnew, Londres.
Acquis auprès de ce dernier par A. R. Wilson-Wood, Esq., en 1909 (selon A. Kidson, 2015, op. cit. infra).
Vente anonyme, Christie's, Londres, 14 mai 1920, lot 50 (comme 'Portrait of Mrs. Morley; Anne, second [sic] wife of James Morley, Esq., of Bombay, and Sempshott Park, Hants') ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Morton (selon A. Kidson, 2015, op. cit. infra).
Chez Lewis & Simmons, Londres, en 1924 (selon A. Kidson, 2015, op. cit. infra).

T. Humphry Ward, W. Roberts, Romney. A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Works, New York, 1904, II, p. 108.
Anonyme, 'Sale of Early English Pictures', The Times, 30 mars 1908, 38.607, p. 17.
A. Kidson, George Romney. A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings, New Haven-Londres, 2015, II, p. 420, n°922, reproduit en noir et blanc.

Londres, Thos. Agnew & Sons Gallery, The Annual Exhibition on Behalf of the Artists' General Benevolent Institution, novembre-décembre 1908, n°8 (comme 'Mrs. Morley, second [sic] wife of Mr. James Morley, of Bombay').
Dundee, Victoria Art Galleries, Loan Collection of Paintings, Water Colours & Engravings, 1912, n°288.

GEORGE ROMNEY, PORTRAIT OF ANN MORLEY BORN BARLOW (C. 1741-1787) IN A WHITE DRESS, HALF-LENGTH, OIL ON CANVAS

Ann Morley (c. 1741-1787) is a classic Romney (1734-1802) beauty, with frothy curls and a frilled dress executed with the assurance and deftness of touch so typical of the artist. The widow of Captain John Barlow, she married in February 1787 as her second husband James Morley (1742-1798), writer, merchant and paymaster of the East India Company, whose first wife had died on the voyage back from Bombay in 1784. The present painting was executed by Romney in Spring 1787 as a pendant to that of her new husband (Collection of Mr and Mrs J. Salter). Sadly, Ann died in childbirth in December of the same year.