THOMAS JOHN CLAVERING, AFTERWARDS EIGHTH
BARONET, AND HIS SISTER, CATHERINE MARY.
The scene has no studio atmosphere about it. It was clearly unpremeditated, and has been happily seized by the artist at the right moment and perpetuated in this work. There is no elaborate underpainting in this picture, all the effects of it being obtained in the simplest manner. The sky and ground afford a sufficient foil in the way of scenery, and the two children come dancing towards the person who looks at the picture with the most artless grace and charm, attended as they are by their canine companions.
The boy was afterwards Sir Thomas John Clavering, the eighth baronet, of Axwell Park, where the family still reside, and was the grand-son of the sixth baronet, Sir James. He was born in 1771, married in 1791, succeeded his uncle in the family estates and title, and died in 1853. His sister, Catherine Mary, died unmarried in 1785.
The picture is a large one, as the figures are life-size, and it has been engraved; and hardly any of the works of Romney is more worthy of praise than this vivacious and graceful creation.
The wonderful eyes which distinguished the features of Lady Hamilton can be well appreciated in the portrait which we give from the National Portrait Gallery. The face is not altogether a pleasing one. It reveals some of the desire to fascinate which distinguished the lady's character.
There is a purpose in the gaze which these eyes extend to the observer, and the attitude, although intended to be a natural one, is quite evidently studied and assumed. It is intended to give full play to the face and eyes, and to reveal the graceful curves of the arms and the slender beauty of the fingers. The very roundness of the face is accentuated against the angles of the fingers in their half-closed position, and there is a studied grace in the arrangement of the draperies and in the muslin bands which form the head-dress. In all these respects it is a fitting representation of the famous beauty, who in a less natural pose would not have so amply revealed her power of charm.
The painting of the features with all their delicate and slight modelling is a triumphant success, and the eyes, which burn down into the very consciousness of the spectator, are superbly represented. The picture, small as it is, and showing but little of the graceful form, is yet a masterpiece, and is a delineation of character unsurpassed in its effect by any other portrait by the same hand.
There is in the Wallace Gallery an interesting Portrait of Mrs. Robinson, the beautiful actress, in the character of Perdita, the daughter of Leontes in "The Winter's Tale," which she made so peculiarly her own.
Mrs. Robinson first took the part in the performance on December 3rd, 1779, at Drury Lane, in the presence of their Majesties King George III. and Queen Charlotte, and also before the youthful Prince of Wales, whose affection was afterwards to have such an effect upon her life.