Thomas Gainsborough · 1727–1788
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) was one of the leading British painters of the 18th century. Born in Sudbury, he left many works in both portraiture and landscape, in an elegant and natural style.
Gainsborough (1727-1788) was born in Sudbury, England. He studied in London and worked in various places before becoming a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768.
His portraits number about 800 and his landscapes 200. In the second half of his life he also painted fancy pictures, a kind of genre painting depicting pastoral scenes. He put effort into both portraits and landscapes, about a thousand works in all. Unbound by tradition, he painted with his natural sensibility, and his works are characterized by an elegant and natural style.
Together with Reynolds he is regarded as a representative English painter of the 18th century, and he greatly influenced the next generation of landscape painters. One of his works is People in front of a Cottage.
