Portrait of Jane Hoskyns

The sitter married Sir John Read in 1774, who also sat for a portrait by the artist in 1788. Born in Lancashire, Romney first apprenticed in his father’s cabinetmaker’s shop. He worked in the north of England until 1762, when he settled in London. There he became a successful portraitist, alongside Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. As with many successful portraitists, his heart lay elsewhere and he dreamed of making history paintings, but his plans for grandiose compositions rarely advanced beyond drawings.