Ann Wilson (née Harrison) and Her Daughter, Sybill
Date:
between 1776 and 1777
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
49 × 39 1/2 inches (124.5 × 100.3 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1983.1
Gallery Label:
Sibyll, the young girl in this portrait, was the only child of Anne and George Wilson, early patrons of Romney. Sibyll died in 1773, aged just six, and her sorrowful parents commissioned this tender commemorative portrait of her as if she had returned to console her grieving mother. The portrait was delayed by Romney’s sojourn in Italy between 1773 and 1775 and was probably not finished until 1777. Its austere, sculptural quality betrays his study of ancient funerary marbles while in Rome. Gallery label for Love, Life, Death, and Desire: An Installation of the Center's Collections (Yale Center for British Art, 2020-11-01 – 2021-02-28)