Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough Painting Reproductions 4 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

Lady Elizabeth Foster later Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Lady Elizabeth Foster later Elizabeth Cavendish, ... n.d.

Oil Painting
$1187
Canvas Print
$55.43
SKU: GAT-9852
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Mrs Siddons, 1785 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mrs Siddons 1785

Oil Painting
$1550
Canvas Print
$59.92
SKU: GAT-9853
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 126 x 99.5 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter, a.1748 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter a.1748

Oil Painting
$1505
Canvas Print
$97.54
SKU: GAT-9854
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 92.1 x 70.5 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The Watering Place, b.1777 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Watering Place b.1777

Oil Painting
$1143
Canvas Print
$102.72
SKU: GAT-9855
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 147.3 x 180.3 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The Market Cart, 1786 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Market Cart 1786

Oil Painting
$1187
Canvas Print
$105.22
SKU: GAT-9856
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 184 x 153 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Dr Ralph Schomberg, a.1770 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Dr Ralph Schomberg a.1770

Oil Painting
$1370
Canvas Print
$83.61
SKU: GAT-9857
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 233 x 153.5 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The Painter's Daughters Chasing a Butterfly, c.1756 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Painter's Daughters Chasing a Butterfly c.1756

Oil Painting
$1405
Canvas Print
$117.55
SKU: GAT-9858
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 113.5 x 105 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

The Painter's Daughters with a Cat, c.1760/61 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Painter's Daughters with a Cat c.1760/61

Oil Painting
$1210
Canvas Print
$63.94
SKU: GAT-9859
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 75.6 x 62.9 cm
National Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Mrs. Philip Dupont, c.1778 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mrs. Philip Dupont c.1778

Oil Painting
$1172
Canvas Print
$78.59
SKU: GAT-9860
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 77.2 x 64.5 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Lady Anne Hamilton Lady Anne Hamilton, later Duchess of Donegall, c.1777/80  by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Lady Anne Hamilton Lady Anne Hamilton, later ... c.1777/80

Oil Painting
$1640
Canvas Print
$81.99
SKU: GAT-9861
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 236.9 x 154.6 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

The Honorable Richard Savage Nassau de Zuylestein, c.1778/80 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Honorable Richard Savage Nassau de Zuylestein c.1778/80

Oil Painting
$1572
Canvas Print
$81.46
SKU: GAT-9862
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 239.1 x 156.8 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

Sir John Edward Swinburne, 1785 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Sir John Edward Swinburne 1785

Oil Painting
$1128
Canvas Print
$68.50
SKU: GAT-9863
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 67 x 58.4 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

Edward Swinburne, 1785 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Edward Swinburne 1785

Oil Painting
$1138
Canvas Print
$103.50
SKU: GAT-9864
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 68.9 x 59.7 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

Eleazar Davy of the Grove, Yoxford, Suffolk, c.1775 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Eleazar Davy of the Grove, Yoxford, Suffolk c.1775

Oil Painting
$1172
Canvas Print
$54.79
SKU: GAT-9865
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 73.7 x 61 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Major General Sir William Draper, c.1765 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Major General Sir William Draper c.1765

Oil Painting
$1344
Canvas Print
$61.17
SKU: GAT-9866
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 127 x 101.6 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Wooded Landscape with Figures and Cows at a Watering Place, c.1776/77 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Figures and Cows at a ... c.1776/77

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9867
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 27.8 x 34.4 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Wooded River Landscape with Shepherds and Sheep, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded River Landscape with Shepherds and Sheep n.d.

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9868
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 29 x 38 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Wooded Landscape with Three Cows at a Pool, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Three Cows at a Pool n.d.

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9869
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 28 x 34.7 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Upland Landscape with Figures, Riders and Cattle, c.1780/90 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Upland Landscape with Figures, Riders and Cattle c.1780/90

Paper Art Print
$47.83
SKU: GAT-9870
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 21 x 29.8 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

A Boy with a Cat (Morning), 1787 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Boy with a Cat (Morning) 1787

Oil Painting
$1302
Canvas Print
$52.87
SKU: GAT-9871
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 150.5 x 120.7 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Charlotte, Queen of England, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Charlotte, Queen of England n.d.

Oil Painting
$1155
Canvas Print
$67.52
SKU: GAT-9872
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 60.3 x 44.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Mrs. Ralph Izard (Alice DeLancey), n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mrs. Ralph Izard (Alice DeLancey) n.d.

Oil Painting
$1187
Canvas Print
$54.41
SKU: GAT-9873
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.8 x 63.8 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Pechell, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Pechell n.d.

Oil Painting
$1170
Canvas Print
$54.16
SKU: GAT-9874
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.5 x 63.8 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

The Wood Gatherers, 1787 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Wood Gatherers 1787

Oil Painting
$1320
Canvas Print
$61.17
SKU: GAT-9875
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 147.6 x 120.3 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

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