The Beaumont Family (after Romney)
after George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734 – Kendal 1802)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1900 - 1919 (original bought by Tate)
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
2806 mm (Width)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Ormesby Hall, Redcar and Cleveland
NT 709310
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, The Beaumont Family, after George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734 – Kendal 1802). This a conversation piece or an intimate group portrait of various members of one family. They are gathered around looking at a painting of a male portrait, probably of their dead brother, Charles Beaumont (1750 – 1774). The sister, Elizabeth (1753 – 1814) is seated pointing at the picture whilst her husband, George Barnard, wearing the uniform of the Enniskillin Dragoons (displaying the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of 86th foot which he rose to in 1783), whom she married in 1774, stands supporting it on the table. The eldest, surviving, son, Richard Henry Beaumont (1748-1810), in a green coat, stands directly behind, leaning on her chair. To the left are Thomas William (1751-1782) and John (1752 – 1820). The sittings of the original painting by Romney now in Tate Britain (purchased 1919) are recorded as beginning in 1779. Therefore it is possible that figure of Thomas was altered posthumously so he could be portrayed in the uniform of the 4th Dragoons, of which he had been Lieutenant, as well that of Captain Barnard to show his new rank in 1783. An alternative reading of the scene however is that the unfinished portrait might be of Richard Henry Beaumont then head of the family (standing second from the left) as both wearing the same attire and the figure in the centre is actually John Beaumont.
Provenance
Bequeathed by Colonel James B. Worsley Pennyman (1883 – 1961)
Credit line
Ormesby Hall, The Pennyman Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after George Romney (Dalton-in-Furness 1734 – Kendal 1802), artist