Who was Thomas Gainsborough?
Painter of Portraits and Landscapes.
Date and Place of Birth:
14th May 1727, Sudbury, Suffolk, England.
Family Background:
Youngest and fifth son of John Gainsborough a
maker of woollen goods and Mary Burroughs. One of nine children
in total.
Education:
Apprenticed to the French engraver Hubert Francois
Gravelot in London. Also worked with Francis Hayman.
Chronology/Biography of Thomas Gainsborough:
1740-6: Went to
London to work with French engraver Gravelot.
1746: Moved with
his new wife to Hatton Garden, London.
1748: "The
Charterhouse" is the last picture of his apprenticeship period.
Painted the world famous "Mr. and Mrs. Andrews".
1749: Returned to
Live in Sudbury, Suffolk and lived at Friar's Street.
1750: Birth of daughter
Mary.
1751: Birth of daughter
Margaret. Family moved to live in Foundation Street, Ipswich.
1752: Set up as
a portrait painter at Ipswich.
1760: Moved to Bath
where the family rented a large house in Abbey Street.
1761: Sent paintings
to the newly formed Society of Artists in London.
1766: Family moved
to a house on The Circus, Bath.
1768: Painted "Viscount
Kilmorey (National Gallery, London). Invited to become a Foundation
Member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London of which Sir Joshua
Reynolds was the first President.
1772: Took on his
nephew as an apprentice.
1773: Quarreled
with the Royal Academy of Arts about the way they hung his pictures
and stopped sending work to them.
1774: Moved permanently
to London where the family lived at Schomberg House, Pall Mall.
Painted "Mary Countess Hume" (Kenwood Collection, London).
1770: "The
Harvest Wagon" (Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham).
1777: "The
Watering Place" (National Gallery, London). Began sending work
once more to the Royal academy of Arts.
1783: Made a tour
of the Lake District during the summer with his friend from Ipswich
Samuel Kilderee. September: Visits Antwerp, Belgium.
1784: Quarreled
once more with the Royal Academy of Arts largely about the place
given to "The King's Daughters" and began to hold annual
exhibitions of work in his own studio.
Marriage:
15th July 1746 to Margaret Burr at Dr Keith's
Chapel in Mayfair, London.
Date and Place of Death:
2nd August 1788, London, England.
Age at Death:
60.
Site of Grave:
St. Anne’s Church, Kew Green, Kew, Surrey,
England.
Places of Interest:
AVON:
Painted "The Blue Boy" at No 17, The
Circus, Bath. (Rented House)
Bristol Art Gallery
BERKSHIRE:
Windsor Castle
BIRMINGHAM:
Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of
Birmingham
CAMBRIDGESHIRE:
Fitwilliam Museum, Cambridge
HERTFORDSHIRE:
Woburn Abbey
LINCOLNSHIRE:
Burrghley House, Stamford
LONDON:
National Gallery
National Portrait Gallery
Tate Britain
Royal Academy of Arts, Piccadilly
Victoria and Albert Museum
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Kenwood House
NORFOLK:
Norwich Castle Museum
SUFFOLK:
Gainsborough's Birthplace Museum, Sudbury
Ipswich
WARWICKSHIRE:
Upton House
WILTSHIRE:
Stourhead, Warminster
YORKSHIRE:
Temple Newsham House, Leeds
Castle Howard
Harewood House
SCOTLAND:
Drumlanrig Castle
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
WALES:
Powis Castle, Welshpool
NORTHERN IRELAND:
Ulster Museum, Belfast
