Jo Manning: Artists and Their Models - Part Three of Part Six

Emma as The Spinstress
The Spinstress dates from this second series of paintings. Greville could not afford to pay for it, so it was sold to another buyer on the condition that he could "repurchase" it. Unusually, the sittings for this painting took place at Edgware Row, not in Romney's studio. During this time, according to a pupil of Romney's, he was also painting Emma's face into a number of history and allegorical works, as his sketchbooks were filled with her face in its changing nuances ...