Lives of Gainsborough

One of the best-loved painters in English history, Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) was also one of the most personally engaging, charming sitters and friends alike. His personality comes to life in two memoirs written by two very different friends. 

Philip Thicknesse, one of the most eccentric figures of the century, was a close companion and shrewd observer of the painter, with whom he also had repeated spats. 

William Jackson, distinguished musician and connoisseur, eventually fell out with the painter over his reckless lifestyle, before writing an affectionate yet clear-eyed memoir.

Both essays illuminate the man, his art and the impact of his increasingly daring and poetic style. They are published with the appraisal by Gainsborough’s rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Reynolds gave a painter’s analysis of Gainsborough’s work that remains one of the most penetrating accounts of one English artist by another ever written.

An introduction by Anthony Mould brings out the value of these texts and their relation to Gainsborough’s painting.