England's Mistress_ The Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton - Kate Williams [57]
Romney's obsession with Emma pervaded his paintings for the rest of his life. He filled dozens of sketchbooks with pictures of her—nude, clothed, and in various poses. Even when he painted other women, he made them look like her: dark hair, pale skin, pink cheeks, full mouth, oval face, tall, long-legged. He showed both her exuberant, sensual personality and her pleasure in life, and he never equaled the vibrancy and grace of his portraits of her in his other work. As he complimented her, “I have had a great number of ladies of fashion siting to me since you left England but they all fall short of The Spinstress, indeed, it is the Sun of my Hemisphere and they are but twinkling stars.”7
∗ Although ostensibly based on a simpler style, the dress, like the pastel suit for men, served the purpose of elite fashion: a long white dress in flimsy material was impractical and showed off the wearer as someone who did not have to work and could travel by carriage.
Many portraits were ruined. Some rotted away in the damp rooms of his Hampstead home, where he moved in 1798, and others have been destroyed. Lost are paintings of Emma as Iphigenia, Joan of Arc, a Pythian princess, and a picture of how he guessed she was in childhood. Hundreds more canvases of Emma were begun than ever completed.
As a result of Romney's devotion, Emma became the most painted woman ever in Europe, and there are more portraits of her than Queen Victoria or any English or European actress or aristocrat. Thanks to Romney's interest, other painters began to demand a sitting from her, including Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Lawrence, Alexander Day, Guy Head, and Gavin Hamilton, as well as European artists such as Angelica Kauffmann, Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, Johannes Schmidt, and Wilhelm Tischbein. If he had not painted her so often and with such skill, they would not have been so eager to capture her likeness. Even those who caricatured her borrow their vision from Romney by reworking the poses he used.
While paintings of Emma hung on the walls of expensive stately homes, cheap prints of the same portraits soon adorned poorer homes across the country. She became a commodity, and versions of portraits of her began to appear on consumer goods: cups, fans, screens, and sometimes even items of clothing. Like frequently photographed women today, her image was seared onto the public consciousness. She became a fantasy figure for thousands of men and a fashion leader for women. Even if she had never become as celebrated as she did, the loveliness of her portraits would have ensured her lasting fame. By 1783, Emma had become the most wanted model in London. She had no idea of the storm clouds gathering behind her.
Charles Greville detested his new role as the lover of an icon. He was making plans to be rid of her.
CHAPTER 16
Entertaining the Envoy
It was the summer of 1783, and Greville was jumpy. His uncle, the wealthy, newly widowed Sir William Hamilton, was about to arrive in England for the first time in more than five years. Greville was intent on monopolizing his attentions, for he was in dire need of a loan. Emma flurried around her lover, promising to use her every wile to charm the middle-aged visitor, confident that she would soon have him eating out of her hand. Dressing herself in her prettiest outfit and arranging herself in the parlor at Edgware Row, she rehearsed topics of conversation suitable for a deeply depressed old man. When handsome, fashionable Sir William sprang into her home, full of jokes, eager to touch her hand and give it a long, lingering kiss, she was surprised—and excited.
Fifty-five-year-old Sir William had arrived to organize his late wife's estates and earn himself a few pounds by selling off the most precious vase from his collection of Greek and Roman antiquities, as well as to catch up with his dozens of friends. The fourth and youngest son of Lord Archibald Hamilton, Sir William became a diplomat after a stint in the army. Since 1764 he had been envoy plenipotentiary to Naples, fulfilling