A Portrait of Mrs. Beal Bonnell

George Romney's portrait of Mrs. Beal Bonnell, painted in 1779, dates from the middle phase of his career when he was at the peak of his practice and in fierce professional rivalry with Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough for the aristocratic portrait market. Romney had moved to London in 1762 and by the late 1770s commanded prices comparable to his rivals. Female sitters of the professional and gentry class — Mrs. Beal Bonnell falls into this category — formed the bulk of his practice alongside the grander aristocratic commissions. His style at this moment was characterized by a sweet, idealized femininity that critics associated with his passionate relationship with Emma Hamilton, begun in 1781.

Romney's female portraits of the 1770s and 1780s employ soft, warm color with figures set against landscape or clouded backgrounds, deliberately contrasting with Reynolds's more formal, architectural settings. The face is rendered with close attention while dress and background receive a looser treatment, creating a characteristic shimmering, slightly unfinished quality.