Commissioned By Sir George Cornewall, 2nd Bt. Moccas Court, father of the sitters;
Sir George Cornewall, 3rd Bt. (1774-1835), his son;
Thence by descent to Sir Geoffrey Cornewall Bt., from whom acquired by the Leger Gallery, 1949;
The Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth;
Sold Sotheby's New York, 4th June 1987, lot 141, bt. Leger Galleries by whom sold to the present owner

Royal Academy, Works by Old Masters, 1883, no. 281, (lent by the Rev. Sir George Cornewall)

The Rev. John Romney, Memoirs of the Life and Works of George Romney, 1830, p. 142;
Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, George Romney, 1904, no. 83;
H. Ward and W. Roberts, Romney, 1905, vol. II, pp. 33-34 (size incorrectly recorded);
Arthur B. Chamberlain, George Romney, 1910, pp. 297, 307, illus. pl. 414;
G.C. Rump, George Romney, 1974, Vol. I, p. 106, Vol II, fig. 46;
R. Askeson and S.M. Bennett, British Paintings at The Huntington, 2001, p. 414;
Leger, A Century of Art Dealing 1892-1992, 1992, pp. 84-85, illus.;
National Portrait Gallery, George Romney, exhibition catalogue, 2002, p. 151

This lively portrait dates from the winter of 1777, just two years after Romney had returned from his stay in Italy. The period of five years following his return are generally considered to mark the high point of his career. His study in Italy had given him a new confidence and in the following years he produced some magnificent portraits of children including The Gower Children (Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendall), The Clavering Children ( Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino), and The Stanley Children (Private Collection). The Cornewall Children is certainly one of his masterpieces and its enchanting subject matter and the attractivness of the sitters make it one of his finest portraits of children.

The two children are George Cornewall and his elder sister Katherine. Their father was Sir George Cornewall Bt whose grandfather, Claudius Amyand had come to England as a refugee following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and whose father, George Amyand, a successful banker, was made a baronet in 1766. As Master Amyand, he had been painted by Reynolds in 1761. Their mother was Catherine Cornewall whose father Velters Cornewall came from an old Herefordshire family. Catherine was his only child so he stipulated in his will that her husband should adopt the name and arms of Cornewall. In 1771 she married Sir George Amyand, 2nd Bt and he duly changed his name to Cornewall. Sir George had inherited a house at Carshalton from his father together with a substantial fortune and in 1775 decided to build a new house at Moccas, the Cornewall family seat in Herefordshire. He turned to Robert Adam for designs, but in the event they were not used and the elegant new house was built under the supervision of Anthony Keck. The grounds were laid out reflecting some suggestions from Capability Brown. It was all completed by the early 1780's and it was in the beautiful surroundings that the two children in this portrrait were brought up. George was born in 1774 and succeeded his father as third baronet in 1819. On 26th September he married Jane, the only daughter of William Naper of Longharew, County Meath and niece of James, 1st Baron Sherborne. His elder sister Katherine was born in 1773 and married Samuel Peploe of Garnstone, Herefordshire, a splendid Gothic castle designed for him by Nash. They also had one younger brother, George, and four further sisters.

The trip to Italy which was to lead to a marked change in Romney's career and in his painting style began in March 1773 when the artist left England with his friend Ozias Humphry. His aim seemed to be to influence potential patrons to give him commissions, and he took his stay there seriously, studying antique sculpture and Italian paintings, particularly Raphael. When he returned he decided to relaunch his career in London as a rival to Reynolds and Gainsborough. He took an expensive lease on a fine house on the south side of Cavendish Square, once owned by Francis Cotes, and fortunately he was able to attract new patronage. Perhaps the most notable was Lord Gower for whom he painted his great masterpiece, The Gower Children. During this period his studio methods changed and he began to paint more quickly, making his handling of paint more spontaneous.  By the time of The Cornewall Children his career was flourishing. Josiah Green reported back to Humphrey, who was still in Rome, in December 1776 - "I can scarcely believe my Eyes! such Pictures! and the Pictures of such People! I am lost in wonder & astonishment how these things should be! how so short a travel could give such Excellence to his Pencil!" (RA Humphrey MSS HU2/47).

The Cornewall Children comes from this high point in Romney's career, and the charming composition is a product of his new confidence. Katherine is shown dancing to her brother's tambourine and her coquettish pose is in contrast to her brother's apparent restraint. Although the younger of the two children, his more serious pose suggests an awareness that he is the heir to the baronetcy and to the Moccas estate. The musical theme echoes the composition of The Gower Children and is particularly apposite as the Cornewall family were very musical. In a letter to her niece Henrietta Master in 1872, Caroline Duff Gordon, a younger sister to the two children in the picture wrote: "My Mother who was very fond of Music encouraged all their musical tastes ... then your father came home from abroad and the 'Grand Tour' in about 1797, I should guess, with his violincello, and later my younger brother Charles played on the violin. Harriet ... sang very nicely but not like her sisters ... My mother had an Opera box and belonged to the Ancient Concert so that the elder ones heard a great deal of music".