George Romney

Pen and grey ink and grey wash over pencil

24.5 x 17.1 cm.; 10 x 6 ¾ inches

Provenance
With the Squire Gallery;
J. Thursby-Pelham;
Mrs Guy Argles and by descent until 1995, anon. sale Christie’s, London, 7 November 1995, lot 71;
Spink, London;
Christie’s, London, 21 November 2002, lot 8, where bought by the previous owner;
Dreweatt’s, Château de Lasfonds sale, 16 November 2022, lot 143

Exhibited
Spink, London, ‘Annual Exhibition of Watercolours and Drawings, 28 May – 21 June 1996, no. 4

This imposing drawing shows Satan holding his shield aloft to defend himself against Heaven. Romney made many illustrations to Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ around 1794. This drawing appears to show a moment in Book 1 when Satan and the other rebels are ‘Hurled headlong, flaming from the ethereal sky’. Elsewhere in the poem Milton compares Satan’s shield to a moon seen through Galileo’s telescope.

Another similar drawing in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum also shows Satan holding his shield above his head

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/16046

It is possible that the French Revolution, raging at this time, was close to Romney’s mind when he worked on these drawings for 'Paradise Lost', giving them some contemporary political significance.