Journal and notebook kept during a tour through France and Italy in 1773.

France ; Italy, 1773.

1 volume (approximately 42 leaves) : ill. ; 21 cm.

English

A manuscript journal of a journey through France and Italy in April and May of 1773. The text was largely published by the writer's son, the Rev. John Romney, in his "Memoir of George Romney", 1830, although there are some differences. Romney travelled from Paris to Lyon and from Lyon to Nîmes by way of the Pont du Gard. In Nîmes there are descriptions of the Amphitheater and the Maison Carrée. From here he continued to Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, from where he travelled by boat to Nice (providing the occasion for a description of Monaco from the water). He remained in Nice for a month, after several attempts to take ship for Livorno ended in failure due to adverse winds, but eventually succeeded in reaching Genoa where he visited the Palazzo Balbi, the Palazzo Durazzo Pallavicini and the Palazzo Doria, where the journal ends. Romney gives an account of the appearance and dress of the women in every town visited. Local color is provided by detailed descriptions of costume and, for example, an account of maypole dancing in Nice. A visit to a monastery near Nice leads to a diatribe on the wastefulness and futility of the monastic life. The journal includes several sketches, some in pen and black ink, some in graphite. The volume also includes Italian verb tables, a section on the role of the poet, and advice to the aspiring artist on observing the passions and drawing from life. The first section of the journal (written in Paris, concerning the increasing similarity between France and England and deploring the triviality of contemporary French taste in art) appears several times in slightly differing versions at the beginning and end of the volume.

January 11, 2007

George Romney, Journal and notebook kept during a tour through France and Italy in 1773. Department of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.

George Romney, Journal and notebook kept during a tour through France and Italy in 1773. Department of Rare Books & Manuscripts, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.