MRS. MARK CURRIE.
It is not known whom The Parson's Daughter represents, nor why it bears that name.
It is a very charming circular portrait of a young lady with dark eyes and auburn hair, which is powdered and bound with a green ribbon. She wears a brown dress and white handkerchief.
The modelling on the face is very dexterously painted, and the tender thoughtful expression of the dark eyes quite beautiful.
The hair is painted in very broad, powerful fashion, and the draperies over the bust indicated lightly and put on with a wonderful sliding movement which is notable. On the whole Romney seldom did a more pleasing piece of work than the portrait of this quiet and refined dainty girl.
The Clavering Children, which we have the special permission of the owner (Rev. J. W. Napier-Clavering) to reproduce, is a very happy example of Romney's ability to depict children in movement and to give the effect of rapid motion.
Mark how lightly the two children tread the ground, with what easy step they move forward, seeming to come right out of the canvas towards the spectator. Notice how the scarf, which forms part of the dress of the girl, streams out in the wind, and see how lightly and with what a graceful movement the lad holds in the two dogs.
Romney was at his very best in this delightful group. The faces of both boy and girl are painted with unusual care, the clear eyes of the manly lad seeming to look right into the spectator; while the downcast lids of the girl's face serve but to reveal through their clear semi-transparency the brown eyes which they hide.
Much attention has in this work been given to the hands, which Romney rightly believed were indicative of character. The grasp of the sturdy fingers of the boy contrasts well with the long slender fingers which grasp the dog in loving embrace, and the same pleasing idea of divergence can be seen in the modelling of the faces and in the posture and shape of the feet. The dogs are painted in very natural positions: the darker spaniel, which is leaping up to the lad, is evidently in a favourite posture and full of enthusiasm towards his young master; while the tiny puppy which the girl hugs to her breast, and which the parent dog is most anxious to have back again into her care, is a fat little comic beast, quite young, and very ready to be caressed.