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Thomas Gainsborough

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Thomas Gainsborough by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg
Self-portrait (1759)
Born
Sudbury, Suffolk, England
Died 2 August 1788(1788-08-02) (aged 61)
London, England
Resting place St Anne's Church, Kew
Education Hubert-François Gravelot, Francis Hayman
Known for
  • Landscape painting
  • Portrait painting
Notable work
 Mr and Mrs Andrews
The Blue Boy
Movement Rococo
Spouse(s)
Margaret Burr
​
(m. 1746)​

Thomas Gainsborough (born May 14, 1727, died August 2, 1788) was a famous English painter. He was known for his amazing portraits of people and beautiful landscape paintings. Along with another artist named Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough was one of the most important British artists in the late 1700s.

He painted very quickly, and his later works are known for their bright colors and easy, flowing brushstrokes. Even though he painted many portraits, Gainsborough loved painting landscapes the most. He is considered one of the first artists to create the British landscape painting style in the 18th century. Gainsborough also helped start the Royal Academy of Arts, a famous art institution.

Early Life and Art Training

Thomas Gainsborough - Lady Lloyd and Her Son, Richard Savage Lloyd, of Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk - Google Art Project
Lady Lloyd and Her Son, Richard Savage Lloyd, of Hintlesham Hall, Suffolk (1745–46). When he was young, Gainsborough mainly painted for local business people and landowners.

Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, who made woollen goods. Thomas showed a talent for drawing and painting from a very young age. By the time he was ten, he was already painting small portraits and landscapes.

In 1740, when he was 13, Gainsborough moved to London to study art. He trained with an engraver named Hubert-François Gravelot. An engraver is someone who carves designs onto metal plates to make prints. While in London, he also worked with other artists like William Hogarth and Francis Hayman. He even helped decorate a famous pleasure garden called Vauxhall Gardens.

His childhood home in Sudbury, Gainsborough's House, is now a museum dedicated to his life and art.

Painting Career

Suffolk Years

In 1746, Gainsborough married Margaret Burr. At first, his landscape paintings were not selling very well. So, he moved back to Sudbury in 1748 and started focusing more on painting portraits.

In 1752, he and his family, including their two daughters, Mary and Margaret, moved to Ipswich. Here, he started getting more requests for portraits. However, most of his clients were local merchants and landowners, so he still had to borrow money sometimes.

  • The artist's family and self-portrait
  • Margaret Burr (1728-1797), Mrs Thomas Gainsborough by Thomas Gainsborough

    Margaret Burr (1728–1797), the artist's wife, around the early 1770s

  • Thomas Gainsborough 024

    Self-Portrait (1754)

  • Thomas Gainsborough 017

    The Artist's Daughters (around 1759)

Moving to Bath

Portrait of Ann Ford (Gainsborough)
Ann Ford (later Mrs. Philip Thicknesse), 1760.
The Blue Boy
The Blue Boy (1770). This is one of Gainsborough's most famous paintings.

In 1759, Gainsborough and his family moved to Bath, Somerset. Bath was a fashionable city, and he hoped to find more wealthy clients there. He studied the works of older masters like Anthony van Dyck to improve his portrait skills.

His reputation grew, and he began sending his paintings to exhibitions in London. In 1769, he was invited to become a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts. This was a big honor! However, he didn't always get along with the Academy and stopped showing his paintings there for a while in 1773.

Even though he was successful, Gainsborough sometimes felt tired of painting portraits. He once wrote to a friend that he wished he could just paint landscapes instead. He also loved playing the viol da gamba, a musical instrument, and owned several of them.

Life in London

Thomas Gainsborough, Frances Browne, Mrs John Douglas (1746 - 1811), 1783-84 at Waddesdon Manor
Frances Browne, Mrs John Douglas (1783–84). Gainsborough often painted people within beautiful landscapes.
Thomas Gainsborough (English - Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield - Google Art Project
Portrait of Anne, Countess of Chesterfield (1777–78). His later paintings are known for their light colors and easy brushstrokes.

In 1774, Gainsborough and his family moved to London. He started exhibiting his paintings at the Royal Academy again in 1777. He painted portraits of famous people, including the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland. He also began trying out new ways to make prints, like aquatint and soft-ground etching.

During the 1770s and 1780s, Gainsborough started painting portraits where the person was part of a landscape. For example, in his painting of Frances Browne, Mrs John Douglas, he shows her reading a letter in a quiet garden. He used similar colors and brushstrokes for both the person and the background to show their connection.

In 1776, he painted a portrait of Johann Christian Bach, a famous musician and the son of Johann Sebastian Bach. This painting is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

In 1780, Gainsborough painted portraits of King George III and Queen Charlotte. After this, he received many more requests from the Royal Family. His daughter Molly married a musician, but the marriage didn't last long.

Even though another artist, Joshua Reynolds, became the King's main painter, Gainsborough remained the Royal Family's favorite. In his later years, Gainsborough painted many landscapes. He and Richard Wilson are considered the founders of the 18th-century British landscape painting style.

Gainsborough died of cancer on August 2, 1788, when he was 61 years old. He is buried in the churchyard of St Anne's Church, Kew.

Painting Style

Girl with Pigs by Thomas Gainsborough
Girl with Pigs, 1781–82. Another artist, Sir Joshua Reynolds, said this was "the best picture he ever painted."

Art experts describe Gainsborough as a very skilled and experimental artist for his time. He was known for how quickly he painted. He often painted by observing nature and people, rather than strictly following art rules. His paintings had a poetic feeling that made people emotional.

Gainsborough loved landscapes so much that he often blended the people in his portraits with the backgrounds. He sometimes even created miniature landscapes using stones, mirrors, and even broccoli on a tabletop, then lit them with candles to get ideas for his paintings! His later works are known for their light colors and easy, simple brushstrokes.

His nephew, Gainsborough Dupont, was his only known assistant.

Famous Works and Legacy

Thomas Gainsborough - The Honourable Mrs Graham (1757 - 1792) - Google Art Project
Portrait of Mrs Mary Graham (1777).
Thomas Gainsborough 001
The Harvest Wagon (1767).
Mrs. Ralph Izard (Alice De Lancey, 1746-47–1832) MET DP162167
Alice De Lancey Izard (between 1747 and 1788).

Some of Gainsborough's most famous paintings include The Blue Boy, Mr and Mrs Andrews, Portrait of Mrs. Graham, and The Morning Walk. These paintings show how he captured the unique personality of each person he painted.

His paintings became very popular with art collectors starting in the 1850s. Today, his works are highly valued. In 2011, one of his portraits, Miss Read, sold for a record price of over £6.5 million!

Gainsborough in Popular Culture

  • Gainsborough's famous painting The Blue Boy appears in the 1988 comedy movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!.
  • A play called Gainsborough's Girls is about the artist's life in London in 1774.
  • The 1975 film Barry Lyndon was inspired by Gainsborough's paintings and other 18th-century artists.
  • His painting The Morning Walk can be seen in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall.

Gallery

  • Landscapes
  • Cornard Wood

    Cornard Wood, near Sudbury, Suffolk, (1748), National Gallery

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Landscape in Suffolk - Google Art Project

    Landscape in Suffolk (1748), Kunsthistorisches Museum

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Holywells Park, Ipswich

    Holywells Park, Ipswich, (around 1748–50), Christchurch Mansion

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Mr and Mrs Andrews

    Mr and Mrs Andrews, (around 1750), National Gallery

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Landscape with Stream and Weir - Google Art Project

    Landscape with Stream and Weir, (around 1750–53), Yale Center for British Art

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Hilly Landscape with Figures Approaching a Bridge - Google Art Project

    Hilly Landscape with Figures Approaching a Bridge (around 1763), watercolour, Yale Center for British Art

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Road from Market - Google Art Project

    Road from Market, (around 1767–68), Toledo Museum of Art

  • Thomas Gainsborough - The Mall in St. James's Park - Google Art Project

    The Mall in St. James's Park, (1783), Frick Collection

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Coastal Landscape with a Shepherd and His Flock - Google Art Project

    Coastal Landscape with a Shepherd and His Flock, (around 1783–84), Yale Center for British Art

  • Gainsborough-HarvestWagon1784

    The Harvest Wagon, (1784), Art Gallery of Ontario

  • Thomas Gainsborough 002

    The Market Cart, (1786), National Gallery

  • Thomas Gainsborough - Cattle Watering by a Stream - Google Art Project

    River Landscape, (undated), Yale Center for British Art

See also

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