Carnegie Museum Auctions Off George Romney Portraits

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Jan 9th 2011 at 8:02AM

Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art is selling off five portraits by British portrait artist George Romney at Christie's New York on January 26. The works were painted between 1770 and 1789 and according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette they have not been exhibited at Carnegie Museum of Art since the 1930s. Four of the five portraits were donated to the museum in 1929 after the death of Katharine Louise Siedle, widow of J. Willis Dalzell. She had collected the art and it hung in her dining room. Romney's work was popular amount the wealthy in the early 20th century. The museum decided to sell the art because their storage space is limited and the museum's curators continue to collect.

The painting of Colin Dunlop of Carmyle, the provost of Glasgow, shown at right, carries the highest estimate: $25,000 to $35,000. The other pieces are estimated at between $10,000 to $20,000.

Tags: carnegie museum, carnegie museum of art, pittsburgh