Gainsborough - A Biography

78 Pages·1964·8.073 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Ripley

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A
Biography by
Gainsborough
A
Biography by
Elizabeth Ripley
Good-looking, gay, witty young Tom
Gainsborough made many friends in
London, but after three years he had
had no commissions for paintings and
it was as a painter that he was resolved
to earn his living. Thinking that things
might be better in the country, he
moved to Sudbury where he painted
the countryside he loved so much.
Here he met Margaret Burr whom he
married in 1746.
For a few years the Gainsboroughs
lived on Margaret's income. However,
before his two daughters were more
than a few years old, he was at last
recognized as a promising painter by
wealthy Philip Thicknesse of Ipswich.
From then on Tom's portraits and
landscapes, his "fancy pictures" were
in great demand. He painted royalty .
and actors and the county folk and
their children. He exhibited his paint-
ings in London when he bought
Schomberg House. It was here that
he settled with his family, and here
he died in 1788.
This biography of a great English
painter brings to life a loveable and
talented figure that boys and girls will
understand and enjoy.
S3.50
.

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Biographies by Elizabeth Ripley
DURER
PICASSO
BOTTICELLI
RAPHAEL
TITIAN
WINSLOW HOMER
GAINSBOROUGH
LEONARDO DA VINCI
MICHELANGELO
REMBRANDT
RUBENS
GOYA
VAN GOGH
Gainsborough
A
Biography by
ELIZABETH RIPLEY
LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
B.
J.
Philadelphia
New
York
VnMMMlfl
For
my
sister,
who loves England
NOV
-i
Copyright © 1964
ByElizabethRipley
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNo.64-15236
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
I
ILLUSTRATIONS
facing page
Bumper 6
Landscape: Rest by Way. 8
.
Charterhouse 10
Gainsborough's Forest 12
Mr. and Mrs. Andrews 14
Gainsborough with His Wife and Daughter 16
Tom Peartree 18
Admiral Vernon 20
Mary and Margaret Gainsborough 22
Self-Portrait 24
Philip Thicknesse 26
Miss Anne Ford (Mrs. Thicknesse) 28
Earl of Nugent 30
The Harvest Wagon 32
Garrick with Bust of Shakespeare 34
Henry, Third Duke of Buccleuch 36
The Blue Boy (Master Jonathan Buttall) 38
Gainsborough Dupont 40
Karl Friedrich Abel 42
The Honorable Mrs. Graham 44
Johann Christian Fischer 46
....
Seashore with Fishermen and Boat Setting Out 48
Queen Charlotte 50
King George III 52
Girl with Pigs 54
Peepshow Landscapes 56
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire 58
The Mall in St. James's Park 60
Three Eldest Princesses 62
Mrs. Siddons 64
The Wood Gatherers 66
.
Self-Portrait 68
John Gainsborough scowled when he read the note Tom had
brought from school. What was this all about? He had never
written Tom's teacher asking that his son be given a day off
from school, but here was a letter saying that his request could
not be granted. Tom must have been up to his old tricks again,
forging his father's handwriting so that he could get a day off
for sketching.
"Tom will be hanged," growled John as he handed the note
to Mrs. Gainsborough. He had to admit the boy was clever.
His sketches always caught the atmosphere of the rolling green
country around Sudbury.
"Tom will be a genius," John told his wife one day. Perhaps
the boy should learn to be an artist. He was far too carefree
and erratic to work in his father's wool business. Now that the
nine older children had finished school, there was money to
send their youngest son to study art in London. Tom was de-
lighted.
In the fall of 1740 thirteen-year-old Thomas Gainsborough
arrived in London. His first teacher taught Tom how to draw.
Impressed with his pupil's talent, he arranged to send the boy
to art school.
Tom soon tired of copying pictures by Italian artists, so he
rented a studio and waited hopefully for commissions. While
he waited, he painted landscapes from his Sudbury sketches.
When he wanted animals in his country scenes, he moulded
little clay dogs and horses, then painted from these models.
He made many friends in London, for Tom was good-looking,
gay and witty, but no one bought his paintings. His friends
told him that no artist could be successful unless he spent a
few years in Italy learning to imitate the grandiose style of
Italian landscapes. No one in England was interested in English
landscapes. But Tom ignored his friends' advice. He wanted to
paint the gentle countryside around his native village.
Three years after Tom arrived in London, he packed up his
paints and easel and returned to Sudbury.
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