Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough Painting Reproductions 1 of 10

1727-1788

English Rococo Painter

Thomas Gainsborough (May 14, 1727 (baptised) - August 2, 1788) was one of the most famous portrait and landscape painters of 18th century Britain.

Gainsborough was born in 1727 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. His father was a schoolteacher involved with the wool trade. At the age of fourteen he impressed his father with his pencilling skills so that he let him go to London to study art in 1740. In London he first trained under engraver Hubert Gravelot but eventually became associated with William Hogarth and his school. One of his mentors was Francis Hayman. In those years he contributed to the decoration of what is now the Thomas Coram Foundation for Children and the supper boxes at Vauxhall Gardens.

In the 1740s, Gainsborough married Margaret Burr whose illegitimate father, The Duke of Beaufort, gave them a £200 annuity. His work, which was mainly composed of landscape paintings, was not selling very well. He returned to Sudbury in 1748-1749 and concentrated on the painting of portraits.

In 1752, he and family, now including two daughters, moved to Ipswich. Commissions for personal portraits increased but his clientele included mainly local merchants and squires. He had to borrow against his wife's annuity.

In 1759, Gainsborough and his family moved to Bath. There he studied portraits by van Dyck and was eventually able to attract better-paying high society clientele. In 1761 he began to send work to the Society of Arts exhibition in London (now the Royal Society of Arts, of which he was one of the earliest members) and from 1769 to the Royal Academy's annual exhibitions. He selected portraits of known or notorious clients to attract attention. Exhibitions helped him to gain a national reputation and he was invited to become one of the founding members of Royal Academy in 1769. His relationship with the academy, however, was not an easy one and he stopped exhibiting his paintings there in 1773.

In 1774, Gainsborough and his family moved to London to live in Schomberg House, Pall Mall. In 1777 he again began to exhibit his paintings in the Royal Academy, with portraits of contemporary celebrities, including the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, related to the royal family. These exhibitions continued for the next six years.

In 1780, he painted the portraits of King George III and his queen and afterwards received many royal commissions. This gave him some influence with the Academy to state in what form he wished his work to be exhibited. However, in 1783 he took his paintings from the forthcoming exhibition and moved them to Schomberg House. In 1784, royal painter Allan Ramsay died and the King was obliged to give the job to Gainsborough's rival and Academy president, Joshua Reynolds. Gainsborough still remained the favourite painter of the Royal Family.

In his later years, he often painted landscapes of common settings. With Richard Wilson, he was one of the originators of the eighteenth-century British landscape school, and with Joshua Reynolds, he was the dominant British portraitist of the second half of the 18th century.

Gainsborough painted more from his observations of nature than from any application of formal rules. The poetic sensibility of his paintings caused Constable to say, "On looking at them, we find tears in our eyes and know not what brings them." He himself said, "I'm sick of portraits, and wish very much to take my viol-da-gam and walk off to some sweet village, where I can paint landskips (sic) and enjoy the fag end of life in quietness and ease."

His best works, such as Portrait of Mrs. Graham; Mary and Margaret: The Painter's Daughters; William Hallett and His Wife Elizabeth, nee Stephen, known as The Morning Walk; and Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher, display the uniqueness (individuality) of his subjects. His only assistant was his nephew Gainsborough Dupont.

Gainsborough died of cancer on 2 August 1788 in his 62nd year.

224 Gainsborough Paintings

A Woman in Blue (Portrait of the Duchess of Beaufort), c.1775/80 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Woman in Blue (Portrait of the Duchess of Beaufort) c.1775/80

Oil Painting
$1273
Canvas Print
$62.55
SKU: GAT-3264
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76 x 64 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Sarah, Lady Innes, c.1757 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Sarah, Lady Innes c.1757

Oil Painting
$1391
Canvas Print
$89.33
SKU: GAT-3265
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 101.6 x 72.7 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

The Hon. Frances Duncombe, c.1777 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Hon. Frances Duncombe c.1777

Oil Painting
$1722
Canvas Print
$50.65
SKU: GAT-3266
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 234.3 x 155.2 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

Mrs. Peter William Baker, 1781 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mrs. Peter William Baker 1781

Oil Painting
$1487
Canvas Print
$83.96
SKU: GAT-3267
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 227.6 x 151.7 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

The Mall in St. James's Park, c.1783 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Mall in St. James's Park c.1783

Oil Painting
$3041
Canvas Print
$61.44
SKU: GAT-3268
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 120.6 x 147 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

Mrs. Mary Robinson (Perdita), 1781 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mrs. Mary Robinson (Perdita) 1781

Oil Painting
$1742
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-3269
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 234 x 153 cm
The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

Miss Elizabeth Haverfield, c.1782 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Miss Elizabeth Haverfield c.1782

Oil Painting
$1210
Canvas Print
$61.17
SKU: GAT-3270
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 126.2 x 101 cm
The Wallace Collection, London, United Kingdom

Mr and Mrs William Hallett (The Morning Walk), 1785 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mr and Mrs William Hallett (The Morning Walk) 1785

Oil Painting
$1868
Canvas Print
$58.12
SKU: GAT-3271
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 236.2 x 179.1 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Mr and Mrs Andrews, c.1749/50 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mr and Mrs Andrews c.1749/50

Oil Painting
$1505
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-3272
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 69.8 x 119.4 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Miss Gainsborough Gleaning, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Miss Gainsborough Gleaning n.d.

Oil Painting
$1210
SKU: GAT-4724
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, United Kingdom

Peasants Going to Market Early Morning, 1770 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Peasants Going to Market Early Morning 1770

Oil Painting
$1307
SKU: GAT-4725
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Ex-Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, Surrey, United Kingdom

Peasant Girl Gathering Faggots, 1782 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Peasant Girl Gathering Faggots 1782

Oil Painting
$1363
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-4726
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 169 x 123 cm
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom

The Fallen Tree, c.1750/53 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Fallen Tree c.1750/53

Oil Painting
$1273
Canvas Print
$68.64
SKU: GAT-4727
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 101.6 x 91.4 cm
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, USA

Portrait of Samuel Kilderbee, c.1757 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Samuel Kilderbee c.1757

Oil Painting
$1844
Canvas Print
$60.47
SKU: GAT-4728
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 125.1 x 100 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Portrait of Miss Evans, c.1786/90 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Miss Evans c.1786/90

Oil Painting
$1918
SKU: GAT-4729
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA

Haymaker and Sleeping Girl (Mushroom Girl), 1789 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Haymaker and Sleeping Girl (Mushroom Girl) 1789

Oil Painting
$1363
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-4730
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 227.3 x 149.9 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

Portrait of Mrs Charles Hatchett, c.1786 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Mrs Charles Hatchett c.1786

Oil Painting
$1231
Canvas Print
$77.51
SKU: GAT-4731
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 75.5 x 62.5 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

Landscape With Country Carts, c.1784/85 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Landscape With Country Carts c.1784/85

Oil Painting
$1391
Canvas Print
$60.20
SKU: GAT-4732
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 128 x 102.6 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Mrs Fitzherbert, 1784 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mrs Fitzherbert 1784

Oil Painting
$1159
Canvas Print
$104.51
SKU: GAT-4733
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 75.9 x 63.5 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

The Harvest Waggon, 1784 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Harvest Waggon 1784

Oil Painting
$1487
Canvas Print
$61.86
SKU: GAT-4734
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 122 x 150 cm
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

Portrait of Lady Anna Horatia Waldegrave, c.1783 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Lady Anna Horatia Waldegrave c.1783

Oil Painting
$1231
SKU: GAT-4735
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

John Plampin, a.1752 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

John Plampin a.1752

Oil Painting
$1212
Canvas Print
$62.97
SKU: GAT-8533
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 50.2 x 60.3 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Holywells Park Ipswich, c.1748/50 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Holywells Park Ipswich c.1748/50

Oil Painting
$1097
Canvas Print
$84.36
SKU: GAT-8673
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 50.8 x 66 cm
Borough Council Museums and Galleries, Ipswich, United Kingdom

Cornard Wood, near Sudbury, Suffolk (Gainsborough's Forest), 1748 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Cornard Wood, near Sudbury, Suffolk ... 1748

Oil Painting
$1260
Canvas Print
$97.90
SKU: GAT-8674
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 122 x 155 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

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