Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English painter, draughtsman and printmaker who specialised in portrait and landscape painting. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he was one of the most important British artists of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. Despite being a prolific portrait painter, Gainsborough gained greater satisfaction from his landscapes. He is credited (with Richard Wilson) as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.

Early life

thumbnail|323px|Lady Lloyd and Her Son, Richard Savage Lloyd, of Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk (1745–46), [[Yale Center for British Art]]

Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woollen goods, and his wife Mary, sister of the Reverend Humphry Burroughs. One of Gainsborough's brothers, Humphrey, is said to have invented the method of condensing steam in a separate vessel, which was of great service to James Watt; another brother, John, was known as Scheming Jack because of his passion for designing curiosities.

The artist spent his childhood at what is now Gainsborough's House, on Gainsborough Street, Sudbury. He later resided there following the death of his father in 1748 and before his move to Ipswich. The building is now a house-museum dedicated to his life and art.

As a boy he demonstrated impressive drawing and painting skills. At the age of ten he was painting heads and small landscapes, including a miniature self-portrait. Gainsborough left home in 1740 to study art in London, where he trained under engraver Hubert Gravelot

While still in Suffolk, Gainsborough painted a portrait of The Rev. John Chafy Playing the Violoncello in a Landscape (c. 1750–1752; Tate Gallery, London).

In 1752, he and his family, now including two daughters, Mary ("Molly", 1750–1826) and Margaret ("Peggy", 1751–1820), moved to Ipswich. Commissions for portraits increased, but his clients included mainly local merchants and squires. He had to borrow against his wife's annuity. now in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

<gallery widths="160px" heights="160px" perrow="3" caption="The artist's family and self-portrait">

File:Margaret Burr (1728-1797), Mrs Thomas Gainsborough by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Margaret Burr (1728–1797), the artist's wife, early 1770s

File:Thomas Gainsborough 024.jpg|Self-Portrait (1754)

File:Thomas Gainsborough 017.jpg|The Artist's Daughters ()

</gallery>

Bath

thumb|upright|[[Portrait of Ann Ford, 1760, Cincinnati Art Museum]]

thumb|upright|[[The Blue Boy (1770). Huntington Library, San Marino, California]]

In 1759, Gainsborough and his family moved to Bath, living at number 17 The Circus. There, he studied portraits by van Dyck and was eventually able to attract a fashionable clientele. Beginning with the Exhibition of 1761 he sent work to the annual exhibition of the Society of Artists of Great Britain (of which he was one of the earliest members) at Spring Gardens in London. From 1769 he submitted works to the Royal Academy's annual exhibitions. The exhibitions helped him enhance his reputation, and he was invited to become a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1769. His relationship with the academy was not an easy one and he stopped exhibiting his paintings in 1773.

Despite Gainsborough's increasing popularity and success in painting portraits for fashionable society, he expressed frustration during his Bath period at the demands of such work and that it prevented him from pursuing his preferred artistic interests. In a letter to a friend in the 1760s Gainsborough wrote: "I'm sick of Portraits and wish very much to take my Viol da Gamba and walk off to some sweet Village where I can paint Landskips [landscapes] and enjoy the fag End of Life in quietness and ease". Of the men he had to deal with as patrons and admirers, and their pretensions, he wrote:<blockquote>... damn Gentlemen, there is not such a set of Enemies to a real artist in the world as they are, if not kept at a proper distance. They think ... that they reward your merit by their Company & notice; but I ... know that they have but one part worth looking at, and that is their Purse; their Hearts are seldom near enough the right place to get a sight of it.</blockquote>Gainsborough was so keen a viol da gamba player that he had at this stage five of the instruments, three made by Henry Jaye and two by Barak Norman.

London

thumb|upright|Frances Browne, Mrs John Douglas (1746–1811), 1783–84, [[Waddesdon Manor]]

In 1774, Gainsborough and his family moved to London to live in Schomberg House, Pall Mall. A commemorative blue plaque was put on the house in 1951. In 1777, he again began to exhibit his paintings at the Royal Academy, including portraits of contemporary celebrities, such as the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland. Exhibitions of his work continued for the next six years. About this time, Gainsborough began experimenting with printmaking using the then-novel techniques of aquatint and soft-ground etching.

thumb|upright|[[Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield (1777–78), J. Paul Getty Museum. His later pictures are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes.]]

During the 1770s and 1780s Gainsborough developed a type of portrait in which he integrated the sitter into the landscape. An example of this is his portrait of Frances Browne, Mrs John Douglas (1746–1811) which can be seen at Waddesdon Manor. The sitter has withdrawn to a secluded and overgrown corner of a garden to read a letter, her pose recalling the traditional representation of Melancholy. Gainsborough emphasised the relationship between Mrs Douglas and her environment by painting the clouds behind her and the drapery billowing across her lap with similar silvery violet tones and fluid brushstrokes. This portrait was included in his first private exhibition at Schomberg House in 1784.

In 1776, Gainsborough painted a portrait of Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach's former teacher Padre Martini of Bologna, Italy, was assembling a collection of portraits of musicians, and Bach asked Gainsborough to paint his portrait as part of this collection. Gainsborough did not particularly enjoy reading but letters written to his friends were penned in such an exceptional conversational manner that the style could not be equalled. As a letter writer Henry Bate-Dudley said of him "a selection of his letters would offer the world as much originality and beauty as is ever traced in his paintings".

In the 1780s, Gainsborough used a device he called a "Showbox" to compose landscapes and display them backlit on glass. The original box is on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum with a reproduction transparency.

He died of cancer on 2 August 1788 at the age of 61. According to his daughter Peggy, his last words were "van Dyck". He is interred in the churchyard St Anne's Church, Kew, Surrey, (located on Kew Green). It was his express wish to be buried near his friend Joshua Kirby. Later his wife and nephew Gainsborough Dupont were interred with him. Coincidentally Johan Zoffany and Franz Bauer are also buried in the graveyard. In 2011, an appeal was given to pay the costs of restoration of his tomb, and the tomb was restored in 2012. A street in Kew, Gainsborough Road, is named after him.

Technique

[[File:Girl with Pigs by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|thumb|upright|Girl with Pigs, 1781–82, private collection, was said by Sir Joshua Reynolds to be "the best picture he ever painted".

Gainsborough's only known assistant was his nephew, Gainsborough Dupont.

Gainsborough's works became popular with collectors from the 1850s on, after Lionel de Rothschild began buying his portraits. The rapid rise in the value of pictures by Gainsborough and also by Reynolds in the mid 19th century was partly because the Rothschild family, including Ferdinand de Rothschild began collecting them.

In 2011, Gainsborough's portrait of Miss Read (Mrs Frances Villebois) was sold by Michael Pearson, 4th Viscount Cowdray, for a record price of £6.54M, at Christie's in London. She was a matrilineal descendant of Cecily Neville, Duchess of York.

  • In the steampunk alternate history novel The Two Georges by Richard Dreyfuss and Harry Turtledove, the eponymous fictional Gainsborough painting serves as the macguffin.
  • Gainsborough's portrait The Blue Boy is shown in the 1988 comedy movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! in the office of the antagonist, Vincent Ludwig.
  • Gainsborough's The Blue Boy is also referenced in a 1995 episode of Keeping Up Appearances with Hyacinth Bucket stating at country house estate sale that she was "looking for something like Gainsborough's Blue Boy...only cheaper...".
  • In the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Hollow Pursuits (1990), Wesley Crusher dresses up as The Blue Boy.
  • Cecil Beaton's play Gainsborough's Girls is set in London in 1774 when the painter moved his family to the capital. Previously unpublished, it received its first performance in Sudbury, Suffolk in 2019, followed by a short run at the Tower Theatre, London.
  • Simon Edge's comic novel A Right Royal Face-Off focuses on Gainsborough's relationship with King George III and his family, and his rivalry with Joshua Reynolds.
  • Stanley Kubrick was inspired by Gainsborough's paintings, amongst other artists of the 18th century, in creating the look and mannerisms for his 1975 film Barry Lyndon.
  • Gainsborough's portrait The Morning Walk (Portrait of Mr and Mrs William Hallett) is clearly visible over actor Daniel Craig's shoulder during a scene in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall set in the National Gallery.
  • Gainsborough (played by Cecil Kellaway) performs a vital role in the 1945 film Kitty; saving the eponymous heroine from prison sets the plot, based on Pygmalion, in motion.
  • Gainsborough's portrait The Gravenor Family was cut and pasted into the sleeve of the 1983 Electric Light Orchestra album Secret Messages.
  • Gainsborough's portrait Cornard Wood, near Sudbury, Suffolk is referenced in the first season of the 2024 Netflix show The Gentlemen.
  • The CSS extended color Gainsboro (hex value <code>#DCDCDC</code>) is attributed to Gainsborough's use of similar light tones.

<gallery widths="220" heights="168" perrow="4" caption="Portraits">

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Clayton Jones - Google Art Project.jpg|Clayton Jones (1745), Yale Center for British Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Conversation in a Park - WGA8400.jpg|Conversation in a Park (1746), Louvre

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Portrait of a Woman - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of a Woman (1750), Yale Center for British Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Portrait of John Plampin (1752).jpg|Portrait of John Plampin (1752), National Gallery

File:Edward Vernon by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Portrait of Edward Vernon (1753), National Portrait Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough - The Gravenor Family - Google Art Project.jpg|The Gravenor Family (1754), Yale Center for British Art

File:File-Gainsborough - The Painters Daughters Chasing a ButterflyHD.jpg|The Painter's Daughters Chasing a Butterfly (1756), National Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough - A Man Called Mr. Wood, the Dancing Master - Google Art Project.jpg|A Man Called Mr. Wood, the Dancing Master (1757), Yale Center for British Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mary Little, Later Lady Carr - Google Art Project.jpg|Mary Little, Later Lady Carr (), Yale Center for British Art

File:Portrait of the Artist's Daughters, probably early 1760s, by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) - IMG 7281.JPG|Portrait of the Artist's Daughters, 1763–64 Worcester Art Museum

File:Portrait of Richard Howe. Gainsborough.png|Portrait of Richard Howe, (1763), Kenwood House

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mary, Countess of Howe - WGA08407.jpg|Portrait of Countess Howe, (1764), Kenwood House

File:Karl Friedrich Abel by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Portrait of the Composer Carl Friedrich Abel with his Viola da Gamba (), National Portrait Gallery

File:Theodosia Meade, Countess of Clanwilliam, (Miss Hawkins-Magill), by Thomas Gainsborough, 50 x 40 inches.jpg|Theodosia Meade, Countess of Clanwilliam (Miss Hawkins-Magill), 1765

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Portrait of Joshua Grigby.jpg|The lawyer Joshua Grigby III (1760/1765),

Portrait of Francis Bennett by Thomas Gainsborough (cropped).jpg|Portrait of Francis Bennett (1766), private collection

File:Mrs Edmund Morton Pleydell, by Thomas Gainsborough-18th-century-fashion.jpg|Mrs Edmund Morton Pleydell c. 1765

File:Gainsborough - Elizabeth Montagu, Duchess of Buccleuch (1743-827).jpg|Lady Elizabeth Montagu, Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry (), Boughton House

File:Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) - Commodore, Later Vice-Admiral, The Honourable Augustus Hervey (1724–1779), 3rd Earl of Bristol - 851720 - National Trust.jpg|Portrait of Augustus Hervey (1767), Ickworth House

File:Ignatius Sancho, 1768.jpg|Portrait of Ignatius Sancho (1768), National Gallery of Canada

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Sir Robert Clayton - Google Art Project.jpg|Sir Robert Clayton (1769), Walker Art Gallery

File:David Garrick by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Portrait of David Garrick (1770), National Portrait Gallery, London

File:Maria, Lady Eardley (1743-1794) (Thomas Gainsborough) - Nationalmuseum - 22943.tif|Maria, Lady Eardley () Nationalmuseum

File:Thomas Gainsborough - William Johnstone-Pulteney, Later 5th Baronet - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of Sir William Pulteney (1772), Yale Center for British Art

File:Gainsborough, Thomas - Elizabeth and Mary Linley - Google Art Project.jpg|The Linley Sisters (1772), Dulwich Picture Gallery

File:Johann Christian Bach by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Portrait of Johann Christian Bach (1776), National Portrait Gallery, London

File:Captain John Stanley (cropped) (cropped).jpg|Captain John Stanley, in a 20th Regiment of Foot uniform, collection of Mary, Viscountess Eccles(1776)

File:Thomas Gainsborough 012.jpg|Portrait of Mary Gainsborough (1777), Tate Britain

File:The Hon. Mrs. Thomas Graham.jpg|The Hon. Mrs. Thomas "Mary" Graham (–77), National Gallery of Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - The Honourable Mrs Graham (1757 - 1792) - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of Mrs Mary Graham (1777), Scottish National Gallery (wearing Jacobean inspired gown)

File:The Hon. Frances Duncombe - Gainsborough c. 1777.jpg|The Hon. Frances Duncombe (c. 1777)

Gainsborough - Grace Dalrymple Elliott (cropped).jpg|Mrs. Grace Dalrymple Elliott (1778), Metropolitan Museum of Art

File:Thomas gainsborough, sir henry bate-dudley, 1780 ca. 01 (cropped).jpg|Sir Henry Bate-Dudley (1780)

File:Thomas Gainsborough (English - Portrait of James Christie (1730 - 1803) - Google Art Project.jpg|Portrait of James Christie (1778), J. Paul Getty Museum

Gainsborough, Thomas - Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg - Google Art Project (cropped).jpg|Portrait of Philip James de Loutherbourg (1778), Dulwich Picture Gallery

File:Portrait of Margaret Gainsborough - Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Portrait of Margaret Gainsborough (1778), Courtauld Gallery

File:Colonel John Bullock.jpg|Colonel John Bullock (), Blanton Museum of Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - An officer of the 4th Regiment of Foot - Google Art Project.jpg|An officer of the 4th Regiment of Foot (), National Gallery of Victoria

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Portrait of a Lady in Blue - WGA8414.jpg|Woman in Blue (), Hermitage Museum

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Madame Lebrun - Google Art Project.jpg|Madame Lebrun (1780), Art Gallery of South Australia

File:Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst.jpg|Portrait of Jeffery Amherst, 1780

File:Henryseymour.jpg|Portrait of Henry Seymour Conway, 1780

File:Queen Charlotte - Gainsborough 1781.jpg|Portrait of Queen Charlotte () Royal Collection

File:Giovanna Baccelli (Gainsborough).jpg|Portrait of Giovanna Baccelli (), Tate Britain

File:John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.jpg|Portrait of the Earl of Sandwich (1783), National Maritime Museum

File:Admiral of the White by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|Portrait of Admiral Rodney (1783), Private Collection

File:Lord Cornwallis.jpg|Portrait of Lord Cornwallis (1783), National Portrait Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Francis Rawdon.jpg|Portrait of Lord Rawdon, 1784, São Paulo Museum of Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) - John Hobart (1723–1793), 2nd Earl of Buckinghamshire - 355541 - National Trust.jpg|Portrait of the Earl of Buckinghamshire (1784), Blickling Hall

File:Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88) - The Three Eldest Princesses, Charlotte, Princess Royal (1766-1828), Augusta (1768-1840) and Elizabeth (1770-1840) - RCIN 400206 - Royal Collection.jpg|The Three Eldest Princesses (1784)

File:Thomas Gainsborough 015.jpg|Portrait of Sarah Siddons (1785), National Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs William Hallett ('The Morning Walk') - WGA8418.jpg|The Morning Walk (1785), National Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough 005.jpg|The Cottage Girl (1785), National Gallery of Ireland

File:Lady Sheffield by Gainsborough.jpg|Portrait of Sophia Charlotte Digby, Lady Sheffield, (–86), Waddesdon Manor

File:Thomas Gainsborough - The Marsham Children - Google Art Project.jpg|The Marsham Children (1787),

File:GeorgianaofDevonshire.jpg|Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1787), Chatsworth House

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan .jpg|Mrs Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1787), National Gallery of Art

</gallery>

<gallery widths="220" heights="168" perrow="4" caption="Landscapes">

File:Cornard Wood.png|Cornard Wood, near Sudbury, Suffolk (1748), National Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Landscape in Suffolk - Google Art Project.jpg|Landscape in Suffolk (1748), Kunsthistorisches Museum

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Holywells Park, Ipswich.jpg|Holywells Park, Ipswich (–50), Christchurch Mansion

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs Andrews.jpg|Mr and Mrs Andrews (), National Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Landscape with Stream and Weir - Google Art Project.jpg|Landscape with Stream and Weir (–53), Yale Center for British Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Hilly Landscape with Figures Approaching a Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg|Hilly Landscape with Figures Approaching a Bridge (), watercolour, Yale Center for British Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Road from Market - Google Art Project.jpg|Road from Market (–68), Toledo Museum of Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough - The Mall in St. James's Park - Google Art Project.jpg|The Mall in St. James's Park (1783), Frick Collection

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Coastal Landscape with a Shepherd and His Flock - Google Art Project.jpg|Coastal Landscape with a Shepherd and His Flock (–84), Yale Center for British Art

File:Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) - Romantic Landscape with Sheep at a Spring - 03-1396 - Royal Academy of Arts.jpg|Romantic Landscape with Sheep at a Spring (1783), Royal Academy of Arts

File:Gainsborough-HarvestWagon1784.jpg|The Harvest Wagon (1784), Art Gallery of Ontario

File:Thomas Gainsborough 002.jpg|The Market Cart (1786), National Gallery

File:Thomas Gainsborough - Cattle Watering by a Stream - Google Art Project.jpg|River Landscape (undated), Yale Center for British Art

</gallery>

See also

  • Gainsborough's House
  • Fancy picture
  • Rococo
  • Humphrey Gainsborough
  • Holywells Park

Further reading

  • Thomas Gainsborough, William T. Whitley, (John Murray, 1915)
  • Gainsborough, Ellis Waterhouse, (Edward Hulton, 1958) – the standard catalogue of the portraits etc.
  • The Letters of Thomas Gainborough, ed. Mary Woodall, (Cupid Press, 1963)
  • The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, John Hayes, (Two volumes, Zwemmer, 1970) – the standard catalogue of the drawings
  • Gainsborough as Printmaker, John Hayes, (Zwemmer, 1971) – the standard catalogue of the prints
  • Gainsborough, John Hayes, (Phaidon, 1975)
  • Gainsborough & Reynolds in the British Museum, ed. Timothy Clifford, Antony Grffiths and Martin Royalton-Kisch, (BMP, 1978)
  • Thomas Gainborough, John Hayes, (Tate Gallery, 1981)
  • The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, John Hayes (Two volumes, Sotheby's, 1982) – the standard catalogue on the landscape paintings
  • Thomas Gainsborough: His Life and Art, Jack Lindsay, (HarperCollins, 1982)
  • A Nest of Nightingales: Thomas Gainsborough, The Linley Sisters. Paintings and their Context II, ed. Giles Waterfield, (Dulwich PIcture Gallery, 1988)
  • The Paintings of Thomas Gainborough, Malcolm Cormack, (Cambridge University Press, 1991)
  • Gainsborough & Reynolds: Contrasts in Royal Patronage, exhibition catalogue, (Queen's Gallery, 1994)
  • Gainsborough's Vision, Amal Asfour and Paul Williamson (Liverpool University Press, 1999)
  • The Art of Thomas Gainborough: A little business for the Eye, Michael Rosenthal, (Yale University Press, 1999)
  • The Letters of Thomas Gainsborough, ed. John Hayes (Yale University Press, 2001)
  • Gainsborough, eds. Michael Rosenthal and Martin Myrone, (Tate, 2002)
  • Gainsborough in Bath, Susan Sloman, (Yale University Press, 2002)
  • Gainsborough, William Vaughan, (World of Art, Thames & Hudson, 2002) – the most accessible introduction
  • Sensation & Sensibility: Viewing Gainsborough's Cottage Door, ed. Ann Bermingham (Yale University Press, 2005)
  • Thomas Gainsborough's First Self-portrait, Stephen Conrad, in The British Art Journal, Vol. XII, No. 1, Summer 2011, pp.&nbsp;52–59
  • Thomas Gainsborough and the Modern Woman, ed. Benedict Leca, (Giles, 2011)
  • Gainsborough's Landscapes: Themes and Variations, Susan Sloman, (Philip Wilson, 2012)
  • Gainsborough: A Portrait, James Hamilton, (W&N, 13 July 2017)

References

  • Gainsborough at the Government Art Collection
  • Thomas Gainsborough's works of art at Waddesdon Manor
  • Ellis Waterhouse archive
  • John Hayes archive; research papers of John Hayes, British art historian and a leading authority on Thomas Gainsborough
  • Thomas Gainsborough, 1727-1788 a retrospective organized by Tate Britain, London (exhibited 24 October–19 January 2003), the National Gallery of Art, Washington (exhibited 9 February–11 May 2003, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (exhibited 15 June–14 September 2003)
  • Gainsborough: The Fashion of Portraiture 2026 exhibition at the Frick Collection; catalog by Aimee Ng ()