AN ECCENTRICITY OF GENIUS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 27, 5 July 1890, Page 8

AN ECCENTRICITY OF GENIUS.

Romney, the eminent portrait painter, was a married man engaged in a rustic employment in Yorkshire, England, when he discovered by mere chance that he could draw. He left his wife with about a hundred pounds in her pocket, taking less in his own ; studied his profession in London, Paris and Rome ; became the first portrait painter of his day, realizing over three thousand pounds a year by his art. He lived on, corresponding affectionately with his wife and sending her money, but never visiting her or sending for her; and, finally, after an absence of thirty-five years, he returned to her in ill-health, ami resumed the matrimonial life so unexpectedly broken off ii his youth. For this strange conduct no reason has ever been assigned. It seems to have proceeded from the mere eccentricity of genius.