Name/Title
Portrait of Lord RomillyEntry/Object ID
0000.1352.0001Description
Samuel Romilly (1757–1818), a self-educated lawyer and member of Parliament, was friendly with Benjamin Franklin and William Wilberforce. An anti-slavery activist in later life, Romilly was a key supporter of the British Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.
Probably made during Gilbert Stuart’s two-decade stay in London, this portrait may have come to Philadelphia with the artist when he was summoned in 1793 to make the now-iconic likeness of George Washington, which has appeared on United States one-dollar bills since 1869. For years, this painting hung in Houston Hall, where it was subjected to various forms of vandalism, including having a mustache drawn across its upper lip.
What responsibilities do we have toward the works of art in our midst as their meanings shift over time? How should we understand acts of damage or alteration—as disregard for shared cultural objects, or as expressions of changing public values?Type of Painting
EaselDimensions
Dimension Description
FrameDimension Description
SizeHeight
21 inWidth
26 in