Movement, Style, School or Type of Art:
Rococo > Romanticism
Date and Place of Birth:
(Baptized) May 14, 1727, Sudbury, England
Life:
Gainsborough is best known for his prolific output of fancy portraits, though he himself said that landscapes were his true pleasure. He was in great demand as a portrait artist, and moved through the years from heads and half-lengths, to full-lengths, to groups. His subjects, too, were increasingly important people.
Important Works:
- Mr. and Mrs. Robert Andrews, 1748-50
- The Blue Boy, 1770
- Ann Ford (Mrs. Philip Thicknesse), 1781
- Mrs. Sarah Siddons, 1785
- Market Cart, 1787
Date and Place of Death:
August 2, 1788, London
Quotes From Thomas Gainsborough:
- "Confound the nose, there's no end to it!"
- "I'll not take any thing for it but give (it) to you to twang upon when you can't twang upon Mrs Jackson." - written to his friend William Jackson, in reference to a harp.
Sources and Further Reading
- Hayes, John. Gainsborough (exh. cat.).
London : Tate Gallery, 1980-81.
- Hayes, John. Gainsborough: Paintings and Drawings
London : Phaidon, 1975.
- Kitson, Michael. "Thomas Gainsborough"
The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford University Press, 2001.
Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 5 June 2005.
- Rosenthal, Michael (ed.), et al. Thomas Gainsborough.
New York : Harry N Abrams, 2003.
- Rosenthal, Michael. "Gainsborough, Thomas"
Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 5 June 2005.
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