Thomas Gainsborough
1727–1788
Thomas Gainsborough was born in Suffolk, trained in London, and worked in Ipswich and fashionable Bath. Portraiture brought him wealthy clients and an income, although landscape was his particular passion. Moving to London in 1774, he became a favorite of the royal family. Light, feathery brushwork animates both clothing and foliage in his paintings. A founding member of the Royal Academy, he later disputed how his paintings were hung at its exhibitions.
