George Romney

Delivered to the sitter, Anne Bonar (née Thomson), and her husband, Thomson Bonar, on 24 December 1794, Camden House, Chislehurst;

Thence by descent until sold ("The Thomson Bonar Family Pictures, formerly at Camden Place, Chislehurst"), London, Christie's, 9 May 1896, lot 119;

Where acquired by Frickenhaus for £1,575;

From whom acquired by Agnew's, London, 14 May 1896;

From whom acquired by Knoedler Gallery, New York, July 1896;

From whom acquired by H.L. Terrell, New York, 1901, for $25,000;

Wilfred Buckley C.B.E.;

Anonymous sale ("The Property of a Gentleman"), London, Christie's, 9 July 1926, lot 143;

Where acquired by Leger for £2,000;

Frederick A. Szarvasy, 74 Portland Place, W.1, London;

By whose estate sold ("Sold by Order of the Executors of the late Frederick A. Szarvasy, Esq."), London, Christie's, 17 November 1950, lot 38;

Where acquired by "Lane";

R.W. Lloyd;

His estate sale ("Sold by Order of the Executors of the Late R. W. Lloyd, Esq."), London, Christie's, 29 May 1959, lot 98;

Where acquired by "Weitzner" for £1,050;

John and Johanna Bass, New York;

By whom donated to the Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, 1963 (inv. no. 63.35).

J. Romney, Memoirs of the LIfe and Works of George Romney..., London 1830, p. 214;

H. Gamlin, George Romney and His Art, London 1894, p. 187;

G. Paston, George Romney, London 1903, p. 192;

T.H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney: A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Works, London 1904, vol. II, p. 14;

A.B. Chamberlain, George Romney, New York 1910, p. 161;

The John and Johanna Bass Collection at Miami Beach, Miami 1973, n.p., cat. no. 35;

K. Garlick, in Paintings and Textiles of the Bass Museum of Art: Selections from the Collection, M. Russell (ed.), Miami 1990, pp. 68-69, reproduced;

B. Maclean-Eltham, Romney Paintings in Public Collections, Kendal 1996, p. 17;

A. Kidson, George Romney: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings, New Haven/London 2015, vol. I, p. 78, cat. no. 115, reproduced.

Painted between 1790 and 1794, this double portrait is a late and touching example of George Romney’s gift for mother-and-child compositions. The sitters are Anne Bonar (née Thomson, d. 1813) and her only daughter, Agnes (b. 1787), depicted with a particular tenderness.

Anne Bonar married her cousin, the merchant Thomson Bonar (1743-1813) of Camden Place, Chislehurst, whose family had trading connections with Russia. Romney’s notebooks record twenty-one sittings for the present work between December 1790 and January 1794, with final payment of £104 received in December 1794. In August 1813, Anne and her husband were tragically murdered in their home by their footman, Philip Nicholson, a crime that captured national attention.¹ Their daughter Agnes survived to adulthood and later married Count Moretti.

¹ For more on this story see: S. Ladner, J. Askew, and H-Y. Lo, "The murder mystery at a Kent stately home," BBC News (19 March 2025), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddyp3y9l7zo.