Portrait of Mary Gainsborough
| Portrait of Mary Gainsborough | |
|---|---|
_-_The_Artist%27s_Daughter_Mary_-_N05638_-_National_Gallery.jpg) | |
| Artist | Thomas Gainsborough |
| Year | 1777 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, portrait painting |
| Dimensions | 77.5 cm × 64.8 cm (30.5 in × 25.5 in) |
| Location | National Gallery, London |
Portrait of Mary Gainsborough is a 1777 portrait painting by the British artist Thomas Gainsborough featuring his elder daughter Mary Gainsborough.[1] [2] In 1780 she married the German musician Johann Christian Fischer but the relationship quickly ended in separation. Gainsborough admired Old Masters, and the painting resembles the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens's portrait of his wife. [3]
At the time he produced the work, Gainsborough was a leading portraitist of London high society having moved there from the fashionable spa resort of Bath. Around the same time he produced Margaret Gainsborough, holding a Theorbo, a portrait of her younger sister. The works remained in the family for many years. Today the painting of Mary is in the collection of the Tate Britain, having been acquired in 1945.[4] In 2025 it went on display at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.[5]
See also
[edit]- The Painter's Daughters Chasing a Butterfly, a 1756 painting featuring Gainsborough's daughters as children
References
[edit]- ^ Belsey p.38
- ^ Brophy p.173
- ^ https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-portrait-of-the-artist-s-daughter-mary
- ^ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gainsborough-the-artists-daughter-mary-n05638
- ^ https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/thomas-gainsborough-portrait-of-the-artist-s-daughter-mary
Bibliography
[edit]- Belsey, Hugh. Gainsborough's Family. Gainsborough's House Society, 1988.
- Brophy, John. The Face in Western Art. Harrap, 1963.
- Hamilton, James. Gainsborough: A Portrait. Hachette UK, 2017.
- Sloman, Susan. Gainsborough in London. Modern Art Press, 2021.
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