Painting Detail
Woman in BlueArtist: Thomas Gainsborough
Medium: Painting, Oil on canvas, 76x64 cm
Date: Late 1770s - early 1780s
Genre: Portrait
Source: Collection of A. Z. Khitrovo, St Petersburg, 1912
Thomas Gainsborough FRSA (christened 14 May 1727 - 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter. Gainsborough was noted for the speed with which he applied paint, and he worked more from observations of nature (and of human nature) than from application of formal academic 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." Gainsborough 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 liking for landscapes is shown in the way he merged figures of the portraits with the scenes behind them. His later work was characterised by a light palette and easy, economical strokes.
His most famous works, 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 unique individuality of his subjects. Joshua Reynolds considered Girl with Pigs ' the best picture he (Gainsborough) ever painted or perhaps ever will'.
Gainsborough's only known assistant was his nephew, Gainsborough Dupont. In the last year of his life he collaborated with John Hoppner in painting a full length portrait of Lady Charlotte Talbot.
In 2011, Gainsborough's portrait of Miss Read (Mrs William Villebois) was sold by Michael Pearson, 4th Viscount Cowdray for a record price of £6.5M.