Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough Painting Reproductions 7 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

Portrait of Stringer Lawrence, c.1774/75 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Stringer Lawrence c.1774/75

Oil Painting
$1109
Canvas Print
$104.00
SKU: GAT-9924
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 75.9 x 62.6 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Portrait of Johann Christian Bach, 1776 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Johann Christian Bach 1776

Oil Painting
$1270
Canvas Print
$103.47
SKU: GAT-9925
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 75.5 x 62 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Portrait of Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, c.1784/86 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk c.1784/86

Oil Painting
$1935
Canvas Print
$81.96
SKU: GAT-9926
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 232.4 x 152.4 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom

Sir Benjamin Thompson, later Count Rumford, 1783 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Sir Benjamin Thompson, later Count Rumford 1783

Oil Painting
$1195
Canvas Print
$103.11
SKU: GAT-9927
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 75.7 x 62.7 cm
Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA

Wooded Landscape with Rustic Lovers, Packhorses and Windmill, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Rustic Lovers, Packhorses ... n.d.

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9928
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 17.6 x 21.4 cm
Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA

A Cart Passing along a Winding Road, 1765 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Cart Passing along a Winding Road 1765

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9929
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 23.7 x 31.7 cm
British Museum, London, United Kingdom

A Seapiece, a Calm, c.1783 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

A Seapiece, a Calm c.1783

Oil Painting
$1206
Canvas Print
$76.83
SKU: GAT-9930
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 156.2 x 190.5 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

An Officer of the 4th Regiment of Foot, c.1776/80 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

An Officer of the 4th Regiment of Foot c.1776/80

Oil Painting
$1712
Canvas Print
$50.95
SKU: GAT-9931
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 230.2 x 156.1 cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

Wooded Landscape with Horseman and Pack Horse, c.1770 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Horseman and Pack Horse c.1770

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9932
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 21 x 30.1 cm
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, USA

Wooded Landscape with Cows at a Watering Place, Figures and Cottage, c.1785 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Cows at a Watering Place, ... c.1785

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9933
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 18.1 x 24 cm
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota, USA

Landscape with Travelers, 1772 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Travelers 1772

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9934
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 100.3 x 128 cm
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, USA

Richard Paul Jodrell, c.1774 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Richard Paul Jodrell c.1774

Oil Painting
$1215
Canvas Print
$76.38
SKU: GAT-9935
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.8 x 63.8 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

Grace Dalrymple Elliott, c.1782 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Grace Dalrymple Elliott c.1782

Oil Painting
$1211
Canvas Print
$77.59
SKU: GAT-9936
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.5 x 63.5 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

Landscape with Cattle Crossing a Bridge, 1785 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Cattle Crossing a Bridge 1785

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9937
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 21.9 x 31.3 cm
Frick Collection, New York, USA

Portrait of George Pitt, First Lord Rivers, c.1768/69 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of George Pitt, First Lord Rivers c.1768/69

Oil Painting
$1655
Canvas Print
$50.00
SKU: GAT-9938
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 234.3 x 154.3 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

Rocky, Wooded Landscape with a Dell and Weir, c.1782/83 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Rocky, Wooded Landscape with a Dell and Weir c.1782/83

Oil Painting
$1195
Canvas Print
$57.98
SKU: GAT-9939
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 70.5 x 91 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

Wooded Landscape with Herdsmen Driving Cattle, c.1779/80 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Herdsmen Driving Cattle c.1779/80

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9940
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 29.9 x 38.9 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

Wooded Landscape with Herdsman and Cattle, 1775 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with Herdsman and Cattle 1775

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9941
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 28 x 36.7 cm
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

Henry, Duke of Cumberland, with Anne, Duchess of Cumberland, and Lady Elizabeth Luttrell, c.1785/88 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Henry, Duke of Cumberland, with Anne, Duchess of ... c.1785/88

Oil Painting
$2002
Canvas Print
$49.98
SKU: GAT-9942
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 163.8 x 124.5 cm
The Royal Collection, London, United Kingdom

Wooded Landscape with a Shepherd Resting by a Sunlit Track and Scattered Sheep, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Landscape with a Shepherd Resting by a ... n.d.

Oil Painting
$586
Canvas Print
$49.98
SKU: GAT-9943
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 26.7 x 21 cm
Private Collection

Master John Truman-Villebois and his Brother Henry, c.1783 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Master John Truman-Villebois and his Brother Henry c.1783

Oil Painting
$1368
Canvas Print
$49.98
SKU: GAT-9944
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 155 x 129.5 cm
Private Collection

The Marsham Children, 1787 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

The Marsham Children 1787

Oil Painting
$2058
Canvas Print
$49.98
SKU: GAT-9945
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 243 x 182 cm
Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany

Wooded Upland Landscape with Shepherd and Sheep and Country Track Winding around a Knoll, c.1785 by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Wooded Upland Landscape with Shepherd and Sheep ... c.1785

Paper Art Print
$47.70
SKU: GAT-9946
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 28 x 37 cm
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

Portrait of Mr G Hammond, n.d. by Gainsborough | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Mr G Hammond n.d.

Oil Painting
$1195
Canvas Print
$51.72
SKU: GAT-9947
Thomas Gainsborough
Original Size: 76.5 x 64 cm
Private Collection

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