Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GAINSBOROUGH, THOMAS (1727-1788)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 389 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

GAINSBOROUGH, See also:THOMAS (1727-1788) , See also:English painter, one of the greatest masters of the English school in See also:portraiture, and only less so in landscape, was See also:born at See also:Sudbury, See also:Suffolk, inthe See also:spring of 1727. His See also:father, who carried on the business of a woollen See also:crape-maker in that See also:town, was of a respectable See also:character and See also:family, and was noted for his skill in See also:fencing; his See also:mother excelled in See also:flower-See also:painting, and encouraged her son in the use of the See also:pencil. There were nine See also:children of the See also:marriage, two of the painter's See also:brothers being of a very ingenious turn. At ten years old, Gainsborough " had sketched every See also:fine See also:tree and picturesque cottage near Sudbury," and at fourteen, having filled his task-books with caricatures of his schoolmaster, and sketched the portrait of a See also:man whom he had detected on the See also:watch for robbing his father's See also:orchard, he was allowed to follow the See also:bent of his See also:genius in See also:London, with some instruction in See also:etching from Gravelot, and under such advantages as Hayman, the See also:historical painter, and the See also:academy in St See also:Martin's See also:Lane could afford. Three years of study in the See also:metropolis, where he did some modelling and a few landscapes, were succeeded by two years in the See also:country. Here he See also:fell in love with See also:Margaret See also:Burr, a See also:young See also:lady of many charms, including an See also:annuity of £200, married her after painting her portrait, and a See also:short courtship, and, at the See also:age of twenty, became a householder in See also:Ipswich, his See also:rent being £6 a See also:year. The annuity was reported to come from Margaret's real (not her putative) father, who was one of the exiled See also:Stuart princes or else the See also:duke of See also:Bedford. She was See also:sister of a young man employed by Gainsborough's father as a traveller. At Ipswich, Gainsborough tells us, he was " chiefly in the See also:face-way "; his sitters were not so numerous as to prevent him from often rambling with his friend See also:Joshua See also:Kirby (See also:president of the Society of Artists) on the See also:banks of the Orwell, from painting many landscapes with an See also:attention to details which his later See also:works never exhibited, or from joining a musical See also:club and entertaining himself and his See also:fellow-townsmen by giving concerts. As he advanced in years he became ambitious of advancing in reputation. See also:Bath was then the See also:general resort of See also:wealth and See also:fashion, and to that See also:city, towards the See also:close of the year 1759, he removed with his wife and two daughters, the only issue of their marriage. His studio in the See also:circus was soon thronged with visitors; he gradually raised his See also:price for a See also:half-length portrait from 5 to 40 guineas, and for a whole-length from 8 to See also:loo guineas; and he rapidly See also:developed beyond the comparatively See also:plain and hum-See also:drum quality of his Ipswich paintings.

Among his sitters at this See also:

period were the authors See also:Sterne and See also:Richardson, and the actors See also:Quin, See also:Henderson and See also:Garrick. Meanwhile he contributed both portraits and landscapes to the See also:annual exhibitions in London. He indulged his See also:taste for See also:music by learning to See also:play the See also:viol-di-gamba, the See also:harp, the hautboy, the See also:violoncello. His See also:house harboured See also:Italian, See also:German, See also:French and English musicians. He haunted the See also:green-See also:room of See also:Palmer's See also:theatre, and painted gratuitously the portraits of many of the actors: he constantly gave away his sketches and landscapes. In the summer of 1774, having already attained a position of See also:great prosperity, he took his departure for London, and fixed his See also:residence at See also:Schomberg House, See also:Pall Mall, a See also:noble See also:mansion still See also:standing, for a See also:part of which the artist paid £300 a year. Gainsborough had not been many months in London ere he received a See also:summons to the See also:palace, and to the end of his career he divided with See also:West the favour of the See also:court, and with See also:Reynolds the favour of the town. See also:Sheridan, See also:Burke, See also:Johnson, See also:Franklin, See also:Canning, Lady See also:Mary Wortley See also:Montagu, Mrs See also:Siddons, See also:Clive, See also:Blackstone, See also:Hurd, were among the number of those who sat to him. But in London as in Bath his landscapes were exhibited, were commended, and were year after year returned to him, " till they stood," says See also:Sir See also:William See also:Beechey, " ranged in See also:long lines from his See also:hall to his -painting-room." Gainsborough was a member of the Royal Academy, one of the See also:original 36 elected in 1768; but in 1784, being dissatisfied with the position assigned on the See also:exhibition walls to his portrait of the three princesses,' he withdrew that and his other pictures, and he never afterwards exhibited there. Even before this he had taken no part in the business of the Institution. After seceding he got up an exhibition in his own house, not successfully. In See also:February 1788, while witnessing the trial of See also:Warren See also:Hastings, he See also:felt an extraordinary chill at the back of his See also:neck; this was the beginning of a See also:cancer (or, as some say, a See also:malignant wen) which proved fatal on the 2nd of See also:August of the same year.

He lies buried at See also:

Kew. Gainsborough was tall, See also:fair and handsome, generous, impulsive to the point of capriciousness, easily irritated, not of bookish likings, a lively talker, See also:good at repartee. He was a most thorough embodiment of the See also:artistic temperament; delighting in nature and " the look of things," insatiable in working, fond of music and the theatre hardly less than of painting—a warm, See also:rich See also:personality, to whom severe principle was perhaps as See also:foreign as de-liberate wrong-doing. The See also:property which he See also:left at his See also:death was not large. One of his daughters, Mary, had married the musician See also:Fischer contrary to his wishes, and was subject to fits of See also:mental See also:aberration. The other daughter, Margaret, died unmarried. Mrs Gainsborough, an extremely sweet-tempered woman, survived her See also:husband ten years. There is a See also:pretty See also:anecdote that Gainsborough, if he ever had a tiff with her, would write a pacifying See also:note, confiding it to his See also:dog See also:Fox, who delivered it to the lady's pet spaniel Tristram. The note was worded as in the See also:person of Fox to Tristram, and Mrs Gainsborough replied in the best of humours, as from Tristram to Fox. Gainsborough and Reynolds See also:rank See also:side by side as the greatest portrait-painters of the English school. They were at variance; but Gainsborough on his death-See also:bed sought and obtained a re-conciliation. It is difficult to say which stands the higher of the two, although Reynolds may claim to have worked with a nearer approach to even and demonstrable excellence.

In See also:

grace, spirit, and lightness of insight and of See also:touch, Gainsborough is peculiarly eminent. His handling was slight for the most part, and somewhat arbitrary, but in a high degree masterly; and his landscapes and rustic compositions are °not less gifted than his portraits. Among his finest works are portraits of " Lady See also:Ligonier," " Georgiana, duchess of See also:Devonshire," " See also:Master Buttall (the See also:Blue Boy)," now in Grosvenor House, " Mrs Sheridan and Mrs See also:Tickell," " Orpin, the See also:parish clerk " (See also:National See also:Gallery), " the Hon. Mrs See also:Graham " (Scottish National Gallery), his own portrait (Royal Academy), " Mrs Siddons" (National Gallery); also " the Cottage See also:Door," the See also:Market See also:Cart," " the Return from See also:Harvest," " the Woodman and his Dog in a See also:Storm " (destroyed by See also:fire), and " Waggon and Horses passing a See also:Brook (National Gallery—this was a favourite with its painter). He made a vast number of drawings and sketches. A few observations may be added: (t) as to individual works by Gainsborough, and (2) as to his general characteristics as a painter. Two of his first portraits, executed when he was settled at Ipswich, were See also:separate likenesses of Mr and Mrs Hingeston. His first great See also:hit was made at Bath with a portrait of See also:Lord See also:Nugent. With a likeness of Mr Poyntz, 1762, we find a decided advance in artistic type, and his See also:style became fixed towards 1768. The date of the " Blue Boy " is somewhat uncertain: most accounts name 1779, but perhaps 1770 is nearer the See also:mark. This point is not without See also:interest for dilettanti; because it is said that Gainsborough painted the picture with a view to confuting a dictum of Reynolds, to the effect that blue was a See also:colour unsuitable for the See also:main See also:light of a See also:work. But, if the picture was produced before 1778, the date of Reynolds's dictum, this long-cherished and often-repeated tradition must be given up.

A full-length of the duke of See also:

Norfolk was perhaps the latest work to which Gainsborough set his See also:hand. His portrait of See also:Elizabeth, duchess of Devonshire, famous for its long disappearance, has aroused much controversy; whether this painting, produced not long after Gainsborough had settled in London, and termed " the Duchess of Devonshire," does really represent that lady, is by no means certain. It was mysteriously stolen in 1876 in London immediately after it had been See also:purchased by Messrs See also:Agnew at the See also:Wynn See also:Ellis See also:sale at a huge price, and a long See also:time elapsed before it was retraced. The picture was taken to New See also:York, and eventually to See also:Chicago; and in See also:April See also:tool, through the agency of a man named Pat Sheedy, it was given up to the See also:American detectives working for Messrs Agnew; it was then sold to Mr Pierpont See also:Morgan. Gainsborough's See also:total output of paintings exceeded 300,389 including 220 portraits: he also etched at least 18 plates, and 3 in See also:aquatint. At the date of his death 56 paintings remained on hand: these, along with 148 drawings, were then exhibited. In his earlier days he made a practice of copying works by Vandyck (the See also:object of his more See also:special admiration), See also:Titian, See also:Rubens, See also:Teniers, See also:Hobbema, See also:Claude and some others, but not in a spirit of servile See also:reproduction. Gainsborough was pre-eminent in that very essential See also:element of portraiture—truthful likeness. In See also:process of time he advanced in the rendering of immediate expression, while he somewhat receded in general character. He always made his sitters look pleasant, and, after a while, distinguished. Unity of impression is one of the most marked qualities in his work; he seems to have seen his subject as an integer, and he wrought at the various parts of it together, every touch (and very wilful some of his touches look) tending towards the foreseen result. He painted with arrowy See also:speed, more especially in his later years.

For portraits he used at times brushes upon sticks 6 ft. long; there was but little light in his painting-room, and he often worked in the evenings. He kept his landscape work distinct from his portraiture, not ever adding to the latter a fully realized landscape background; his views he never signed or dated—his likenesses only once or twice. His skies are constantly cloudy, the country represented is rough and broken; the scenes are of a See also:

pastoral See also:kind, with an effect generally of coming See also:rain, or else of See also:calm See also:sun-setting. The prevalent feeling of his landscapes is- somewhat sad, and to children, whether in subject-See also:groups or in portraits, he mostly See also:lent an expression rather plaintive than mirthful. It should, be acknowledged that, whether in portraiture or in landscape, the painter's mannerisms of See also:execution increased in process of time—patchings of the See also:brush, tufty foliage, &c.; some of his portraits are hurried and flimsy, with a minimum of solid content, though not other than artistic in feeling.

End of Article: GAINSBOROUGH, THOMAS (1727-1788)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
GAINSBOROUGH 		[next]
GAIRDNER, JAMES (1828– )

Site © 2006 - Net Industries