Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough Painting Reproductions 2 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.

228 Gainsborough Paintings

Paul Cobb Methuen, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Paul Cobb Methuen n.d.

Oil Painting
$1165
SKU: GAT-8675
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Portrait of George Venables Vernon, 2nd Lord Vernon, 1767 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of George Venables Vernon, 2nd Lord Vernon 1767

Oil Painting
$1269
SKU: GAT-8676
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 246 x 150 cm
City Art Gallery, Southampton, United Kingdom

Conversation in a Park (Portrait of the Artist and his Wife, Margaret Burr), 1746 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Conversation in a Park (Portrait of the Artist ... 1746

Oil Painting
$1347
Canvas Print
$112.25
SKU: GAT-9145
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 73 x 68 cm
Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Portrait of a Woman, Possibly of the Lloyd Family, c.1750 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of a Woman, Possibly of the Lloyd Family c.1750

Oil Painting
$1228
Canvas Print
$58.77
SKU: GAT-9687
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 69.6 x 53 cm
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, USA

Portrait of Sir Edward Willes in Judge's Robes, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Sir Edward Willes in Judge's Robes n.d.

Oil Painting
$1269
Canvas Print
$74.05
SKU: GAT-9808
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Shepherd Boy Listening to a Magpie, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Shepherd Boy Listening to a Magpie n.d.

Oil Painting
$1176
Canvas Print
$50.89
SKU: GAT-9809
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Shepherd by a Stream, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Shepherd by a Stream n.d.

Oil Painting
$1250
Canvas Print
$52.80
SKU: GAT-9810
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 132 x 160 cm
Private Collection

A Woodland Stream, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Woodland Stream n.d.

Paper Art Print
$48.58
SKU: GAT-9811
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 25.1 x 32.2 cm
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Philip Jakob de Loutherberg, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Philip Jakob de Loutherberg n.d.

Oil Painting
$1172
Canvas Print
$54.49
SKU: GAT-9812
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.5 x 63.3 cm
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, United Kingdom

'Bumper', a Bull Terrier, 1745 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

'Bumper', a Bull Terrier 1745

Oil Painting
$807
Canvas Print
$50.89
SKU: GAT-9813
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 34.9 x 29.8 cm
Private Collection

Cottage Door with Girl and Pigs, c.1786 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Cottage Door with Girl and Pigs c.1786

Oil Painting
$1313
Canvas Print
$52.15
SKU: GAT-9814
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 98 x 124 cm
Borough Council Museums and Galleries, Ipswich, United Kingdom

A Country Cart Crossing a Ford, c.1786 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Country Cart Crossing a Ford c.1786

Oil Painting
$1330
Canvas Print
$52.67
SKU: GAT-9815
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 99 x 124 cm
Borough Council Museums and Galleries, Ipswich, United Kingdom

William Wollaston, c.1759 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

William Wollaston c.1759

Oil Painting
$1361
Canvas Print
$74.05
SKU: GAT-9816
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 127.5 x 100 cm
Borough Council Museums and Galleries, Ipswich, United Kingdom

Mrs. Bedingfield and her Daughter, c.1760/70 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mrs. Bedingfield and her Daughter c.1760/70

Oil Painting
$1474
Canvas Print
$53.32
SKU: GAT-9817
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 128.3 x 102 cm
Borough Council Museums and Galleries, Ipswich, United Kingdom

The Harvest Wagon, c.1767 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Harvest Wagon c.1767

Oil Painting
$1258
Canvas Print
$54.88
SKU: GAT-9818
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 120.5 x 144 cm
Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Portrait of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, Castrato Singer and Composer, c.1773/75 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, Castrato ... c.1773/75

Oil Painting
$1201
Canvas Print
$55.14
SKU: GAT-9819
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.6 x 64 cm
Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Lavinia, the Milk Maid, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Lavinia, the Milk Maid n.d.

Oil Painting
$1190
Canvas Print
$52.41
SKU: GAT-9820
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
South African National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Portrait of Johann Christian Bach, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Johann Christian Bach n.d.

Oil Painting
$1293
Canvas Print
$54.62
SKU: GAT-9821
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: unknown
Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, Bologna, Italy

Mr and Mrs John Gravenor and their Daughters, Elizabeth and Ann, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Mr and Mrs John Gravenor and their Daughters, ... n.d.

Oil Painting
$2749
Canvas Print
$76.30
SKU: GAT-9822
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 90.2 x 90.2 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

A Landscape with Cattle and Figures by a Stream and a Distant Bridge, c.1772/74 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Landscape with Cattle and Figures by a Stream ... c.1772/74

Oil Painting
$1238
Canvas Print
$63.54
SKU: GAT-9823
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 120 x 145.4 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

William Johnstone-Pulteney, Later 5th Baronet, c.1772 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

William Johnstone-Pulteney, Later 5th Baronet c.1772

Oil Painting
$1499
Canvas Print
$50.89
SKU: GAT-9824
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 237.5 x 149.8 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Wooded Landscape with Carts and Figures, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Carts and Figures n.d.

Paper Art Print
$48.58
SKU: GAT-9825
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 30.2 x 39.4 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, c.1787 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent c.1787

Canvas Print
$50.89
SKU: GAT-9826
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 91.3 x 71 cm
Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut, USA

Wooded Landscape with Country House and Two Figures, c.1752 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Country House and Two Figures c.1752

Oil Painting
$594
Canvas Print
$50.89
SKU: GAT-9827
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 22 x 18 cm
Private Collection

Top