Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

by-nc

Maker


1727-1788
Completed by

1754-1797

Title

Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

Date of Production

Late 1760s

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

Height: 76.6 cm (canvas)
Width: 63.5 cm (canvas)

Object Number

P.1932.SC.100

Mode of Acquisition

Samuel Courtauld, gift, 1932

Credit

Courtauld Gallery, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Label Text

The identity of the painter of this portrait had long been uncertain. However, recent research by Courtauld students revealed that the face was most likely painted by Thomas Gainsborough himself, when he was in his forties. Left unfinished at his death, the work was completed by his nephew and close collaborator, Gainsborough Dupont. Dupont altered the wig and added a jacket copied from his uncle’s most famous self-portrait, now at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Provenance

Samuel Courtauld Gift 1932

Exhibition History

Gainsborough's Family Album, National Portrait Gallery, London and Princeton University Art Museum, 15/11/2018-05/06/2019; National Portrait Gallery, 22/11/2018-03/02/2019; Princeton University Art Museum, 23/02/2019-09/06/2019
The Second Hand Re-worked: Art Then and Now, Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/06/2015-19/07/2015

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