AN EXCITING archive of George Romney, the 18th century painter, is now available to the public after being placed in Kendal Record Office by The Romney Society.

Members of the society were delighted to be able to purchase the comprehensive collection of information, which is the result of ten years of work by Dr George Cross, who has recently published a biography of the painter - George Romney, a Striking Likeness.

Thanks to a generous donation from Glyn Hopkin, a collector of Romney paintings and life-time member of the society, the group was able to acquire the archive to place it in the public domain for the benefit of those studying the arts of the 18th century.

Romney was born in Dalton and educated in Dendron before moving with his family to Barrow where he became an apprentice to his father, a cabinet maker.

But it was in 1756 that George Romney found his true vocation, when he moved to Kendal as a pupil of Christopher Steele, the portrait painter. He later set up his own studio in Redmayne's Yard.

After a career in London, Romney retired to his house in Milnthorpe Road, where he died in 1802.

And it is because of these strong connections that the Romney Society, which now boasts an international membership, was founded ten years ago with the aim of establishing Kendal as a centre for Romney studies.

The town has many portraits, drawings and sketchbooks in collections open to the public at Abbot Hall, Kendal Town Hall and Sizergh Castle.

There are further examples of his work in Lancaster and Barrow while the Carnegie Public Library, in Kendal, has a complete set of 15 Romney biographies dating from 1809 to 2000.