Viola Surviving the Shipwreck off the Coast of Illyria, from “Twelfth Night”

George Romney’s reputation as a portraitist rivaled that of Sir Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough, the leading figures of 18th-century British painting. Romney’s true ambition to be a history painter, however, was not fully realized until the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery was opened in 1786. This drawing is one of hundreds by Romney, most of which are in pen and wash, illustrating Shakespeare, Milton, and Greco-Roman mythology. The artist’s sweeping gestures with pen and wash emphasize the struggle and loss brought on by the shipwreck in the opening act of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.