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The Painter's Two Daughters
Thomas Gainsborough, born 1727 - died 1788 - Enlarge image
The Painter's Two Daughters
- Object:
Oil painting
- Date:
ca. 1758 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Thomas Gainsborough, born 1727 - died 1788 (painter (artist))
- Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas (two canvases joined)
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by John Forster
- Museum number:
F.9
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, Room 52, The George Levy Gallery, case WS
Object Type
A portrait of this kind is reminiscent of the work of one of Gainsborough's most admired artists of the past, Van Dyck, whose portraits of children also had a slightly melancholy sweetness.
Subjects Depicted
The artist painted his daughters several times. Both daughters attended Blacklands School in Chelsea, London, where they learned to draw; Margaret also became an accomplished amateur musician. Mary married the oboe player Johann Christian Fischer in 1780, but they soon separated, and she developed eccentricities which eventually resulted in insanity. After their father's death in 1788, the two sisters lived together.
People
Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, in 1727. He moved to London in 1740, studying at the St Martin's Lane Academy and associating with Hubert Gravelot and Francis Hayman. He returned to Suffolk in 1748; then moved to Bath in 1759 and established a successful portrait practice, although he regularly visited London. He exhibited at the Society of Artists and was invited to be a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768. He also painted pictures in the sentimental manner of Murillo, and landscapes of a 'picturesque' kind.
