Thomas Gainsborough (Gainsborough Thomas)

(1727-1788)
Born in 1727 in Sudbury (Suffolk). In 1740-ies was a journeyman Hubert Gravlo, French draftsman and engraver, who worked in London. Early landscapes of the artist works near Dutch masters 17. For example, in the picture Kornardsky Forest (1748, London, National Gallery) composition and most of the details, a soft silvery light and the feeling of humidity back to the Dutch prototypes.
In 1748, when his father died, Gainsborough had to return to Sudbury, and in 1752 or 1753 he moved to Ipswich, where he found customers among the local gentry and clergy. The first portraits of Gainsborough relating to this period, written in a fairly tough and look static. However, the artist had a special gift transfer similarities and moods of models, combining this quality with freshness and liveliness picturesque manners. He continued to paint landscapes, which have always had a particular fondness. Many of them, obviously intended as decorative panels for the wooden overmantel (two of these paintings were commissioned by the Duke of Bedford in 1755). At the same time began to take shape a new style of his portraiture, close to the Rococo.

In 1759 Gainsborough moved to Bath, who was then a fashionable resort. There awaited him a lot of new orders, mainly from the representatives of the British aristocracy. During this period in his painting noticeably influence exquisitely elegant art of Anthony Van Dyck. Contrary to common practice, then Gainsborough never sought the help of the artist who painted drapes, and he was able to perfectly convey the texture of silk, satin and lace, gold embroidery and velvet. In the late 1760's - early 1770's he wrote a series of large landscape compositions inspired by paintings by Rubens. One of the most famous - Cart harvest (Birmingham, gallery Barber Institute of Fine Arts). Gainsborough participated in the annual exhibitions of the Society of Artists, and in 1768 became a founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts.

In 1774 Gainsborough moved to London when he was elected to the Council of the Academy, but often neglect their duties. In 1784, he finally fell out with the Academy and since then has to organize exhibitions of his works in his own studio in Schomberg House on Pall Mall. Descriptions of these exhibitions published by his friend Henry Bet. The late painter's portraits are filled with lofty and romantic spirit, they are distinguished by subtle and free manner of performance, background, forest groves in the background, registered broad, relaxed movements of the brush. Perhaps the most successful of them - a portrait of a young married couple, called Morning Walk (1785, London, National Gallery). Over time, the master became increasingly turn to artificial, 'been composed' compositions, built on such a small model from which then paint. In a series of mountain landscapes reflected his inherent taste for the era of 'elevated', as in the paintings with rustic cottages and peasants - his sentimental attitude to rural life. Gainsborough, have always shown great interest in the effects of lighting, invented the 'magic lantern', in which a transparent plate with a pictorial image is placed candles. In figures Gainsborough constantly experimenting with new techniques, he achieved remarkable freedom and fluency of style, passing the form with a few strokes, and working with pastels with haste and fury worthy of Van Gogh.

Portraiture Gainsborough had surprisingly little impact on the art of other artists, mainly due to the fact that he created the style was very individual and subjective. However, landscapes and drawings of the artist repeatedly copied. It is known that the largest landscape of the next generation of John Constable admired his works.

Gainsborough died Aug. 2, 1788.