George Roth was a skilled portraitist working “in the small” and was the son of the London based artist of the same name whose expertise in drapery painting was called upon by society painters Van Loo, Hudson, Ramsay and Reynolds. Learning his craft in London, Roth appears to have left his father’s studio and eventually made his way west settling in Bath in the 1770s. He exhibited regularly small portraits at the Society of Artists between 1768 and 1776. His practice in Bath must have been fairly successful as it is recorded in the 1785 and 1786 editions of “The New Bath Guide” that he had a studio in Abbey Churchyard, a central address around the corner from Gainsborough’s grand new house in Abbey Street. This bustling area of the city afforded great opportunity to painters and Roth must certainly have benefitted from his close proximity to other busy portrait painters of the day, including Joseph Wright of Derby, William Hoare and Thomas Beach.

The Goldwyers seem to hail from the West Country in England with branches of the family recorded as living in and around Bristol, Salisbury and Bath. Generally employed as doctors, lawyers or businessman they appear stalwart members of the professional classes from the 17th century onwards; the sitter depicted here, evident through his attire of tricorn hat, brown wool coat and matching waistcoat, reflects this social standing. Soberly dressed his features by contrast are subtly animated and show us a man of thought and perhaps humility.

As the painting is dated 1772 it would seem to indicate the portrait was undertaken whilst Roth was practicing from Great Queen Street premises in London, though as details surrounding the painter are somewhat obscure and often confused with other artistic siblings, it is possible that this may have been painted during an earlier visit to Bath, particular given who the sitter is. His works are scarce and this particular example is close in style to some of the earlier small portraits by Thomas Gainsborough.