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Lot description
George Romney, British 1734-1802- Old Age, from 'The Seven Ages of Man'; black chalk on paper, bears collector's stamp for Xavier Haas [L.4541] (upper right), bears inscription 'G. Romney / Old Age One of a series of the 7 Ages / See Hayley life of G. R. p.208/9 / c1794' to the backing paper, 14 x 16.6 cm. Provenance: The Collection of Xavier Haas (1876-1937). with Colnaghi & Co., 1958, according to the inscription to the reverse of the frame. Private Collection, UK. Note: We are grateful to Alex Kidson for confirming the authenticity of the present work. William Hayley, in his 1809 biography of Romney, quotes a letter from the artist which describes how 'I have been arranging some of the subjects in the Seven Ages, and I think I shall be able to make some out of them soon', inspired by Jacques's speech in Shakespeare's 'As You Like It'. The present work exhibits the artist's depiction of 'Old Age', which relate to various of the artist's treatments of the 'Birth of Man' in the Yale Centre for British Art [B1979.12.682; B1979.12.240]. Xavier Haas assembled a remarkable collection of Romney drawings at the end of the 19th century. He and his partner, Émile Gross, owned up to 2,000 drawings, which they did not purchase in London in 1894 at the sale of the artist's granddaughter, Elizabeth, but shortly thereafter from English dealers, notably Humphrey Ward, Duveen, Colnaghi, and Fairfax Murray. Haas enlisted Robert René Meyer Sée to identify and catalogue drawings from their collection. Meyer Sée had collaborated with Humphrey Ward and William Roberts on the publication 'Romney: A Biographical and Critical Essay with a Catalogue Raisonné of his Works', 2 vols. (London, 1904). Haas and Gross organised the first Romney exhibition, 'Romney and Shakespeare', in November 1913 at their Paris gallery on Rue Edouard VII.