Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)

Thomas Gainsborough was born on May 14, 1727. From an early age, he loved to draw landscapes and spent a lot of time outdoors in the beautiful countryside of Sudbury, Suffolk, England where he lived. He was so talented that his father sent him to study art in London when he was a teenager. At 19, he married but continued with his studies for another two years, working as an art copier and restorer on Dutch landscapes. He also did his own work and had his first public showing when he was 21.

Gainsborough was one of the founding members of England's Royal Academy of Arts, and became popular with King George III and Queen Charlotte, as well as with many British aristocrats. He was an easy-going man who took his time when he worked (and sometimes missed more than one deadline!) Although his beautiful landscapes were popular, he is best known for his portraits. He also loved painting animals, especially dogs. He was influenced mostly by Dutch painters like Rubens and Van Dyck.. He was not only a wonderful painter, but could also draw very well with charcoal and chalk, so he was able to work out the details of composition before he actually applied paint to the canvas. If you see one of his paintings up close, you will be amazed at how many small brushstrokes he used but when you back up, the picture looks completely smooth and blended, with all sorts of amazing highlights, especially on clothing.

One of his most famous portraits is The Blue Boy, a portrait of young Jonathan Buttall done in 1770. The picture is 4 feet wide and almost 6 feet high. In his lifetime, Gainsborough did more than 500 paintings, 200 of which were portraits. He died in London on August 2, 1788 at the age of 61.