Thicknesse, Philip: A Sketch Of The Life And Paintings Of Thomas Gainsborough, Esq. ([London], 1788)

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ANECDOTES, &t.

JF an intimate accquaintance, and a
most afFe6lionate regard for upwards
of thirty five years, with the lately de-
parted, excellent, and first Artist as a
Painter, Britain ever produced, could be
deemed a qualification to write memoirs
of his life and Paintings, so far, and no
further, I am competent to the task I
have undertaken; but to doMr. Gainsbo-
rough justice, it requires a pen, equal to
his own inimitable pencil, to hold forth
the powers it possessed, or the tender
feelings of his heart, a task I am by no
means adequate to, but as I can with truth
ooast, that I was the first man who per-
A 2 ceived;