DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61291#0015
BOYHOOD
3
The Tom Peartree portrait was in any case
the cause of a great change in its author’s pro-
spects. A family council was held, and it was
decided that Tom should be sent to London to
study art, for at that time it was the only place
where anything like good teaching could be
obtained. The boy, who was only fifteen, was
confided to the care of a silversmith, whose name
has not been preserved, and who does not seem
to have taken much notice of his charge, though
he is said to have introduced him to the French
engraver Gravelot, by whom he was taught to
etch.
Gainsborough also studied in the St. Martin’s
Lane Academy, then unfortunately under the
direction of second-rate men only, and he
received occasional further instruction from
Francis Hayman, who enjoyed some little re-
pute as an historical and portrait-painter, but
on account of his dissipated life, was anything
but a desirable companion for an innocent lad
of sixteen. No real harm accrued to Thomas,
however. His love of home kept him straight,
and for three long years he did his best to justify
the sacrifices his parents had made to obtain for
him the supposed advantages of life in London.
Homesick and lonely he worked on, taking a
3
The Tom Peartree portrait was in any case
the cause of a great change in its author’s pro-
spects. A family council was held, and it was
decided that Tom should be sent to London to
study art, for at that time it was the only place
where anything like good teaching could be
obtained. The boy, who was only fifteen, was
confided to the care of a silversmith, whose name
has not been preserved, and who does not seem
to have taken much notice of his charge, though
he is said to have introduced him to the French
engraver Gravelot, by whom he was taught to
etch.
Gainsborough also studied in the St. Martin’s
Lane Academy, then unfortunately under the
direction of second-rate men only, and he
received occasional further instruction from
Francis Hayman, who enjoyed some little re-
pute as an historical and portrait-painter, but
on account of his dissipated life, was anything
but a desirable companion for an innocent lad
of sixteen. No real harm accrued to Thomas,
however. His love of home kept him straight,
and for three long years he did his best to justify
the sacrifices his parents had made to obtain for
him the supposed advantages of life in London.
Homesick and lonely he worked on, taking a