James Martin (1738–1810), MP for Tewkesbury (1776, 1780, 1784, 1790, 1796, 1802 & 1806)

James Martin sat for George Romney in 1786, at a time when Martin was an active Member of Parliament for Tewkesbury — one of the six parliamentary terms he served for that constituency between 1776 and 1806. The portrait, now at a Town Hall, reflects the tradition of commissioning likenesses of local worthies for civic display. Martin was connected to the banking world — the Martin banking family was among the oldest in England — and his long parliamentary career placed him in the mainstream of Whig politics. Romney's portraits of MPs and public men reflect his importance as the portraitist of a certain strand of Georgian public life: professional, politically engaged, prosperous but not aristocratic. The Town Hall location gives the portrait a civic meaning appropriate to a man who spent thirty years representing a borough in Parliament.

Romney's 1786 handling represents his mature practice at its most confident. The face is given careful, specific observation while the coat and background are managed with practiced economy. The composition is calculated for civic display — clear, readable, projecting the appropriate qualities of public trustworthiness and professional seriousness.