DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61291#0063
OUR ILLUSTRATIONS
45
sit to the master during a sojourn in Bath. In
any case, the picture remained in Gainsborough’s
studio for some little time, and was one of the
first given to Wiltshire the carrier in payment
for services rendered, an incidental proof that
the artist set but little value on what has long
been universally acknowledged to be a master-
piece. The Portrait is now in the National
Gallery, London, having been bought in 1867
at the sale of the collection of Mr. Wiltshire
of Shockerwick, near Bath, to whom it had
descended as an heirloom.
The Baillie Family, one of the very few groups
of likenesses painted by Gainsborough, is sup-
posed to date from 1770, and in spite of its
conventional background is a good example of
the successful treatment of a difficult subject.
The grouping has, it is true, been very severely
criticised, but it really meets the necessities of
the case with considerable skill. It is marred
by none of the carelessness in the rendering
of detail which has spoiled so much work of a
later period. The Baillie Family remained in
the possession of the heirs of its original owner
until 1858, when it was bequeathed by Mr.
Alexander Baillie to a nephew, on condition
45
sit to the master during a sojourn in Bath. In
any case, the picture remained in Gainsborough’s
studio for some little time, and was one of the
first given to Wiltshire the carrier in payment
for services rendered, an incidental proof that
the artist set but little value on what has long
been universally acknowledged to be a master-
piece. The Portrait is now in the National
Gallery, London, having been bought in 1867
at the sale of the collection of Mr. Wiltshire
of Shockerwick, near Bath, to whom it had
descended as an heirloom.
The Baillie Family, one of the very few groups
of likenesses painted by Gainsborough, is sup-
posed to date from 1770, and in spite of its
conventional background is a good example of
the successful treatment of a difficult subject.
The grouping has, it is true, been very severely
criticised, but it really meets the necessities of
the case with considerable skill. It is marred
by none of the carelessness in the rendering
of detail which has spoiled so much work of a
later period. The Baillie Family remained in
the possession of the heirs of its original owner
until 1858, when it was bequeathed by Mr.
Alexander Baillie to a nephew, on condition