Study for Cassandra Raving

Maker George Romney (British, 1734-1802)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Daten.d.

Mediumpen and brush and brown ink over traces of graphite on laid paper

Dimensions18 1/2 × 11 in. (47 × 27.9 cm.)

MarkingsVerso Pen and wash study of a seated woman and child.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextThis drawing likely relates to Romney’s portrait of Emma Hart as the figure of Circe in a full-length oil painting from 1782. The vivacious young beauty was the artist’s inspiration for a series of fancy portraits in which she is cast in a variety of imaginative roles. In Homer’s Odyssey, the enchantress Circe turns Odysseus’s crew into swine before becoming his lover. Here, Romney creates a sense of power and movement through the surging figure’s raised arm and billowing sash. With her wide, staring eyes and powerful gestures, she is a vision of dangerous femininity (2022).

Object number63.6

Terms