Thomas Gainsborough is an English landscape and portrait painter, one of the great English masters. He was born in Sudbury, Suffolk in the family of a clothier. He showed an aptitude for drawing early and first was encouraged by his mother, who was a woman of well-cultivated mind and excelled in flower-painting. He used to spend a lot of time outdoors, drawing. In 1740, at the age of 13 he was sent to London to study art. He spent several years working in the studios of different artists, one of whom was Hubert Gravelot, a draughtsman and engraver, another one was a scene-painter and illustrator Francis Hayman.
In 1748 Gainsborough presented The Charterhouse(1748) to the Foundling Hospital, it was a way for the artist to show one of his works, because at that time there were no other possibilities for young artists. In 1746 Gainsborough married Margaret Burr, an illegitimate daughter of Duke of Beaufort. His wife brought the family an annuity of £200, which enabled him to start his career as a portrait-painter in Ipswich.
1746-47. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France.
c.1746-47. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London, UK.
c.1746-1747. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.
1748. Presented to the Foundling Hospital by the artist. Oil on canvas. Thomas Coram Foundation, London, UK.
1748-49. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London, UK. Read Note.
1750s. Oil on canvas. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK.
1751-52. Oil on canvas. Marquis of Cholmondeley, Houghton, UK.
c.1752-53. Oil on canvas. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK. Read Note.
1753-54. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London, UK. Read Note.
c.1754-56. Oil on canvas. St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MI, USA.
About 1756. National Gallery, London, UK.
1758-59. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, London, UK.
1758-59. Oil on canvas. Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, UK. Read Note.
c.1758. Oil on canvas. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany. Read Note.
1759. Not finished. Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London, UK.
1760-1768. Oil on canvas. Tate Gallery, London, UK.
c.1760. Oil on canvas. Neue Pinakothek, Munich, Germany. Read Note.
1760s. Oil on canvas. British Museum, London, UK.
1760. Oil on canvas. Art Museum, Cincinnati, USA. Read Note.
1760-1765. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France.
Gainsborough: Paintings and Drawings. by J. Hayes. London. 1975.
Thomas Gainsborough. By Ye. Nekrasova. M. 1990.
Painting of Europe. XIII-XX centuries. Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1999.
Gainsborough (World of Art) by William Vaughan, Michael J. Lewis. Thames & Hudson, 2002.
Gainsborough: The Painter in Modern Culture by Michael Rosenthal, Martin Myrone. Tate Gallery Publishing Ltd, 2002.
The Letters of Thomas Gainsborough by John Hayes. Paul Mellon Center, 2001.
Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough by John Hayes. Yale Univ Pr, 1971.
Sensation and Sensibility: Viewing Gainsborough's "Cottage Door" by Ann Bermingham. Yale University Press, 2005.
Gainsborough in Bath by Susan Sloman. Paul Mellon Center, 2002.
Gainsborough And His Place In English Art by Walter Armstrong. Kessinger Publishing, 2004.