Artists Series: Thomas Gainsborough

An informative introduction to this remarkable artist, whose grand society portraits and sumptuous pastoral landscapes demonstrate the timeless quality of his celebrated brushwork and his status as a perennially popular British painter.Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88) is now recognised as one of Britain's greatest artists. More than simply a successful portraitist, his artistic ambitions and lifelong passion for landscape painting inspired him to become uniquely experimental with his work in both conception and execution, elevating him above his peers. This book is a rich introduction to the life and work of Gainsborough. It follows his journey from his humble beginnings in Sudbury to the heights of fashionable society in Bath and London, exploring the events and relationships that shaped his innovative practice and defined a remarkable career that spanned over four decades. Examining how his paintings were informed by both close observation and playful invention, two threads that ran throughout his oeuvre, this book ultimately reveals a visionary artist whose originality and excellence expanded the possibilities of British art in the eighteenth century.