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Emma achieved celebrity through her beauty, personal vitality and skills as a performer. She is principally remembered as the artist George Romney's 'muse' and for her love affair with Nelson. Emma fell in love with Nelson after the Battle of the Nile (1798), when she and her husband William Hamilton, the British Ambassador at Naples, offered the wounded victor hospitality. Emma and Nelson returned to England in 1800 where a daughter was born. The affair was an international scandal, but it enhanced Nelson's reputation as a romantic hero. At his death, in 1805, Nelson entrusted Emma's care to the nation, but this was ignored by the government. She died a pauper in France in 1813. Romney met her when she was only seventeen and the mistress of Charles Greville.
Title
Emma, Lady Hamilton
Date
c.1785
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 62.3 x W 52.1 cm
Accession number
4448
Acquisition method
Purchased with help from the Art Fund, 1965
Work type
Painting
National Portrait Gallery, London
St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England
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