DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61291#0051
HIS ART
37
Wolfe, the conqueror of Quebec, who was on
garrison duty in Scotland and England between
1749 and 1758, and may possibly have visited
Ipswich whilst Gainsborough was still there.
After the arrival at Bath a very marked change
took place in the style of Gainsborough, which
was probably chiefly the result of his study of
the masterpieces of Van Dyck, and partly of his
increased knowledge of the world. Good as his
previous work was, he seems now for the first
time to have realized all the beauty and poetry
of the human face divine, the pregnant meaning
of passing expression, with the deep significance
of every detail, however trivial, by which char-
acter is revealed. He is said to have spent all
his spare time in copying the portraits of Van
Dyck in the neighbourhood, and he acquired
such facility in this direction that even experts
were sometimes for a time deceived, taking his
reproductions for originals. Specially noteworthy
is his rendering of the Wilton House Pembroke
Family, which was sold after his death for ^129
and is now in the possession of his great-nephew,
the Rev. Ed. Gardiner. Sir Walter Armstrong,
speaking of Gainsborough’s copies after Van
Dyck, says : “ His hand was lighter than that of
the Flemish master, and his taste in colour more
37
Wolfe, the conqueror of Quebec, who was on
garrison duty in Scotland and England between
1749 and 1758, and may possibly have visited
Ipswich whilst Gainsborough was still there.
After the arrival at Bath a very marked change
took place in the style of Gainsborough, which
was probably chiefly the result of his study of
the masterpieces of Van Dyck, and partly of his
increased knowledge of the world. Good as his
previous work was, he seems now for the first
time to have realized all the beauty and poetry
of the human face divine, the pregnant meaning
of passing expression, with the deep significance
of every detail, however trivial, by which char-
acter is revealed. He is said to have spent all
his spare time in copying the portraits of Van
Dyck in the neighbourhood, and he acquired
such facility in this direction that even experts
were sometimes for a time deceived, taking his
reproductions for originals. Specially noteworthy
is his rendering of the Wilton House Pembroke
Family, which was sold after his death for ^129
and is now in the possession of his great-nephew,
the Rev. Ed. Gardiner. Sir Walter Armstrong,
speaking of Gainsborough’s copies after Van
Dyck, says : “ His hand was lighter than that of
the Flemish master, and his taste in colour more