Engraved in oval, 7 7/8 x 10 (probably Meyer), and J. Hodges, 1850, 10 7/8 x 13 1/2, and S. W. Reynolds. Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1788, No. 97 Exhibited: British Institution, 1813, No. 108. Exhibited: British Institution 1861, No. 189. Exhibited: National Portrait Exhibition, 1867, No. 547. Exhibited: Grosvenor Gallery, 1884, No. 8. Canvas: W. 25; H. 30. This picture comes from the family.

35 ROMNEY, GEORGE 1734-1802 LADY HAMILTON AS "NATURE" — Half-length, almost full face, dressed in a low neck red gown; in her arms she holds a Blenheim spaniel. On her head is a colored scarf of gauzy material. Her hair hangs loose down her back. Lips parted in a smile. Landscape on the left.

In the Rev. John Romney's book on the artist, we learn the interesting fact (page 180) that it was in 1782 that Lady Hamilton, who then passed under the name of Mrs. Hart, first sat to Romney. "She was brought." the author states, "by the Hon. Charles Greville to sit for a three-quarter portrait. It was that beautiful one so full of naivete, in which she is represented with a little spaniel lap dog under her arm."

The career of this most fascinating woman reads more like a fairy tale than fact. Let us picture her humble beginning, born about 1761, at Denhall, Chester, the daughter of Henry Lyon, a blacksmith, and then let us follow her life from the time she was a young girl in the service of the wife of a parish doctor. In 1777 we find her in London as a nursery maid, then as a servant of Mrs. Linley's at Drury Lane Theatre, for a short

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period a waitress in St. James Market, and in 1782, under the protection fo Greville, who, finding himself in pecuniary difficulties four years later, sent her to Naples to study singing, and while there to be under the protection of his uncle, Sir William Hamilton, who fell a victim to her charms, marrying her in London in 1793. Many times did she pose for Romney, who found in her a fascinating model. We find frequent entries in his diary during the years 1782-1786 and also in 1791, when she returned to London, posing only once, however, as Lady Hamilton. We can easily imagine this ambitious woman's life in Naples, and picture her striving to master the Italian language, to educate herself to her high position. We see her shining at her own parties, dancing the Tarantella with incomparable grace, and fascinating even the Queen of Naples, over whom she had great influence. Her love for Lord Nelson, and the reciprocation of it, forms the subject of a book by itself. Faults she certainly had, but who can fail to appreciate her ambition, her loyalty to her native country, and the great incentive she proved to England's naval hero.

Lady Hamilton died in poverty at Calais in 1815. Engraved in mezzotint by J. R. Smith, entitled "Nature," May 29, 1784; size 10 7/8 x 13. Engraved also by Henry Meyer, size 9 7/8 x 11 3/4. Exhibited: British Institution, 1864, No. 164. Exhibited: Old Masters' Exhibition, 1886, No. 3. Exhibited: Grafton Gallery, 1900, No. 47. Canvas: W. 25; H. 30. Collection: Charles Greville, London. Sir William Hamilton (husband of Lady Hamilton and English Ambassador to Naples). Lister Parker (who purchased it at Sir William Hamilton's sale). Fawkes, Farnley Hall, England. E. Cronier, Paris.

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