Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough Painting Reproductions 3 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

Landscape with Sheep, c.1744 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Sheep c.1744

Oil Painting
$590
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-9828
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 21.5 x 25 cm
Private Collection

Landscape with Sheep, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Sheep n.d.

Oil Painting
$805
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-9829
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 30.1 x 35.2 cm
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom

Landscape with Figures, c.1786 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Figures c.1786

Oil Painting
$1010
Canvas Print
$54.16
SKU: GAT-9830
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 62.5 x 76.2 cm
Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom

William Lowndes, Auditor of His Majesty's Court of Exchequer, 1771 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

William Lowndes, Auditor of His Majesty's Court ... 1771

Oil Painting
$1312
Canvas Print
$60.74
SKU: GAT-9831
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 126.8 x 102 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Coastal Scene, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Coastal Scene n.d.

Oil Painting
$968
Canvas Print
$52.23
SKU: GAT-9832
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 101.6 x 127 cm
Private Collection

Gypsy Encampment, c.1788/92 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Gypsy Encampment c.1788/92

Oil Painting
$1114
Canvas Print
$50.56
SKU: GAT-9833
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 90.2 x 71.8 cm
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA

The Cottage Door, c.1780/88 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Cottage Door c.1780/88

Oil Painting
$1187
Canvas Print
$51.32
SKU: GAT-9834
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 149.8 x 121.3 cm
Private Collection

Wooded Landscape with Castle, c.1785/88 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Castle c.1785/88

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9835
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 26.4 x 32.5 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Spitz Dog, c.1760/70 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Spitz Dog c.1760/70

Oil Painting
$1022
Canvas Print
$62.41
SKU: GAT-9836
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 61 x 74.9 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

An Open Landscape with Travellers on a Road, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

An Open Landscape with Travellers on a Road n.d.

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9837
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 20.4 x 29.5 cm
Private Collection

A Hilly Landscape with Shepherd and Sheep, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Hilly Landscape with Shepherd and Sheep n.d.

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9838
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 25.6 x 34.3 cm
Private Collection

An Imaginary Wooded Village with Drovers and Cattle, c.1771/72 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

An Imaginary Wooded Village with Drovers and Cattle c.1771/72

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9839
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 62.2 x 74.6 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Portrait of George Brydges Rodney, 1st Lord Rodney, 1782 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of George Brydges Rodney, 1st Lord Rodney 1782

Oil Painting
$1159
Canvas Print
$61.39
SKU: GAT-9840
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 61 x 40 cm
Private Collection

Edward and Thomas Tomkinson, c.1784 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Edward and Thomas Tomkinson c.1784

Oil Painting
$1518
Canvas Print
$66.60
SKU: GAT-9841
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 211.8 x 152.1 cm
The Taft Museum, Cincinnati, USA

Penelope (Pitt), Viscountess Ligonier, 1770 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Penelope (Pitt), Viscountess Ligonier 1770

Oil Painting
$1936
SKU: GAT-9842
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 240 x 156.8 cm
Huntington Library and Art Gallery, California, USA

Edward, Second Viscount Ligonier, 1770 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Edward, Second Viscount Ligonier 1770

Oil Painting
$2046
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-9843
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 238.8 x 157.5 cm
Huntington Library and Art Gallery, California, USA

Portrait of Georgiana Poyntz, Countess Spencer, c.1780/81 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Georgiana Poyntz, Countess Spencer c.1780/81

Oil Painting
$1246
Canvas Print
$51.72
SKU: GAT-9844
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 124.7 x 100 cm
Private Collection

Elizabeth and Thomas Linley, c.1768 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Elizabeth and Thomas Linley c.1768

Oil Painting
$1327
Canvas Print
$67.39
SKU: GAT-9845
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 70 x 62.2 cm
The Clark Art Institute, Massachusetts, USA

Mary, Countess Howe, c.1763/64 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mary, Countess Howe c.1763/64

Oil Painting
$1964
SKU: GAT-9846
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 243.8 x 152 cm
Kenwood House (The Iveagh Bequest), London, United Kingdom

The Painter's Daughters, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Painter's Daughters n.d.

Oil Painting
$2232
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: GAT-9847
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Miss Theodosia Magill, Countess Clanwilliam, 1765 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Miss Theodosia Magill, Countess Clanwilliam 1765

Oil Painting
$1763
Canvas Print
$73.67
SKU: GAT-9848
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

The Painter's Daughters Mary and Margaret, c.1758 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Painter's Daughters Mary and Margaret c.1758

Oil Painting
$1278
Canvas Print
$63.08
SKU: GAT-9849
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 40.7 x 61.6 cm
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom

The Linley Sisters (Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Tickell), c.1772 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Linley Sisters (Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Tickell) c.1772

Oil Painting
$1896
Canvas Print
$58.12
SKU: GAT-9850
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 199 x 153.5 cm
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Portrait of Mrs. Mary Gainsborough, c.1779 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Mrs. Mary Gainsborough c.1779

Oil Painting
$1210
Canvas Print
$63.10
SKU: GAT-9851
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.6 x 63.8 cm
Courtauld Institute of Art, London, United Kingdom

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