Bibliophile, Grangerizer, and patron of artists : a group of portraits commissioned by Anthony Morris Storer (1746-1799) from Sir Joshua Reynolds and George Romney

In an article in a recent volume of the "British art journal," I discussed the solution to a complex problem of attribution and identification following the recovery in 2011 of a late-18th-century portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, PRA (1723-92) of the great Whig magnate William Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam in the British peerage and 4th Earl Fitzwilliam in the Irish peerage (1748-1833). His portrait by Reynolds is one of a little-known group of four. TwO of them were painted by Reynolds, the other two George Romney (1734-1802). They were all commissioned by a single patron, Anthony Morris Storer ("1746-99"), who had formed close friendships with the sitters, mostly while at school. Unfortunately, the group of portraits has long since been dispersed. The re-discovery of the portrait of Earl Fitzwilliam encourages consideration of the genesis and then break-up of the group, as well as the purposes for which the portraits were commissioned. Research has revealed important information about the portraits and in the case of one of them identified important copy, almost certainly made by the youthful prodigy George Henry Harlow. [Publication Abstract]