DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61291#0050
36
GAINSBOROUGH
PORTRAITS
In spite of his early predilection for landscape,
Gainsborough, when once he turned seriously to
portraiture, rapidly gained an ease and precision
of touch, a mastery of expression and a skill of
grouping which placed him in the first rank.
His work, even at Ipswich, was marked by the
sincerity which was from the very first his
governing principle; and, although he was in
later life to a certain extent affected by the accid-
ental circumstances of the rank and position
of his sitters, he never stooped to pander to
their weaknesses. As in landscape, so in por-
traiture he was a master of style, and he impressed
everything he produced with his own individu-
ality.
Amongst the earliest portraits painted by
Gainsborough which have been preserved are
those of various members of the Hingeston
family, of Mr. and Mrs. Pond and of Governor
Thicknesse, all of which have been seen from
time to time at exhibitions, and contrast with the
later work of Bath and London, chiefly in their
comparative soberness of colouring. To the
same period is supposed to belong the fine
likeness in the possession of Mrs. Pym of James
GAINSBOROUGH
PORTRAITS
In spite of his early predilection for landscape,
Gainsborough, when once he turned seriously to
portraiture, rapidly gained an ease and precision
of touch, a mastery of expression and a skill of
grouping which placed him in the first rank.
His work, even at Ipswich, was marked by the
sincerity which was from the very first his
governing principle; and, although he was in
later life to a certain extent affected by the accid-
ental circumstances of the rank and position
of his sitters, he never stooped to pander to
their weaknesses. As in landscape, so in por-
traiture he was a master of style, and he impressed
everything he produced with his own individu-
ality.
Amongst the earliest portraits painted by
Gainsborough which have been preserved are
those of various members of the Hingeston
family, of Mr. and Mrs. Pond and of Governor
Thicknesse, all of which have been seen from
time to time at exhibitions, and contrast with the
later work of Bath and London, chiefly in their
comparative soberness of colouring. To the
same period is supposed to belong the fine
likeness in the possession of Mrs. Pym of James