The plaintiff was American railway magnate Henry Edwards Huntington who brought an action against Lewis & Simmons of New Bond Street over a painting the firm had sold him as by George Romney (1734-1802) and alleging to depict Mrs Siddons and her sister Miss Fanny Kemble.
From May 15-23, 1917, the court heard from expert witnesses including the art dealer Edward Hazell Vicars, who said the painting could not be a Romney as “the arms and drapery look like the burst tyres of a bicycle hung on a peg”.
Eventually the painting was proved to have been of the Waldegrave sisters by the lesser-known portrait painter Oziah Humphrey (1742-1810). The £20,000 Huntington had paid Lewis & Simmons for the painting was reimbursed with costs and interest.
Maurice Lewis subsequently offered the painting to The National Gallery.
Two albums containing the complete transcripts of The Romney Portrait Trial, Huntington v Lewis & Simmons – £950.
The albums, which contain 330 pages of typescript bound in quarter maroon leather with gilt lettering and with newspaper cuttings of the trial, are included in The Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PFBA) monthly online book fair on April 29, priced at £950 from Paul Bostock Rare Books.
The event, which marks the PFBA’s first anniversary of holding monthly online fairs, focuses on art, illustrated books (including children’s) ephemera, manuscripts, autographed material and photographs.
