Thomas Gainsborough
The Greatest British Romantic Painter of the Rococo Era
1727-1823
Influences
- Sir Anthony Van Dyck
,
Francesco Traini,
Titian,
Jacopo Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese,
Paolo Veneziano,
Classical Greek and
Baroque Art
"We are all going to
heaven and Van Dyck is of the company."
- Gainsborough's Deathbed Quote
Cause of Death - Cancer, Age 62
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Thomas Gainsborough Biography
Thomas Gainsborough was born in the small village of Sudbury, Suffolk. His father
dispatched
him to London when he was just a lad of fourteen. Young Tom spent
several years studying art
with the eccentric Hayman, an English designer and portraitist.
Gainsborough
also was tutored by the old curmudgeon Gravelot, a
French illustrator and engraver. When he was 19 the young painter
married a local heiress. The newlyweds lived first in Ipswich and
then in settled in the more refined Bath. Gainsborough painted
portraits of the nobilit. He routinely painted in a lush, beautiful
landscape to liven up his portraits. Gainsborough's
voraciously studied the old masters such as
Watteau,
Rubens, and
Van Dyck. Copying their colors,
compositions and ideas. He was one of the first English artist who loved
the country for its
own sake. Old bridges, winding roadways, gnarled oaks, cattle
grazing, and all the diverse beauties of quiet country life
fascinated him. He educated the collector, and educated the people
into a closer observation and study of nature. Gainsborough stood at the
crossways of progress and pointed the way.
In 1768 Gainsborough stormed out of the prestigious Royal
Academy, a group he had helped found. The artist was outraged over the
way his paintings were being exhibited by the group. He stipulate that
his painting be hung in a superior space.
Bernardo Bellotto Italian,1720-1780
Francois Boucher French, 1703-1770
Canaletto Italian, 1697-1768
Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin French, 1699-1779
Jean-Honoré Fragonard French, 1732-1806
Thomas Gainsborough English, 1727-1823
Francisco de Goya Spanish, 1746-1828
Thomas Hudson English,1701-1779
Jean-Marc Nattier French, 1685-1766
Joshua Reynolds English, 1723-1792
Paul Sandby English, 1730-1809
Jean Antoine Watteau French, 1684-1721
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