Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies after Old Masters

Thomas Gainsborough: The Portraits, Fancy Pictures and Copies after Old Masters

Hardback

Authors: Hugh Belsey

Publisher: Yale University Press

Dimensions: 290mm x 240mm

Pages: 1112 pages, 1300 colour illustrations

ISBN: 9780300232097

About

Scholars and enthusiasts alike will revel in this ambitious two-volume catalogue raisonné of Thomas Gainsborough’s portraits and copies of Old Master works.

The catalogue contains approximately 1,100 paintings, including nearly 200 works newly attributed to the British master, as well as updated information about his subjects and specially commissioned photography. Each portrait entry includes the biography of the sitter—including several newly identified—the painting’s provenance, and exhibitions in which each work was shown.

Gainsborough’s copies after Old Masters, painted in admiration and used to assimilate their style of painting into his own work, are documented here as well. Research includes in-depth analysis of newspaper archives and other printed material to establish the date of a painting’s production, chart the development of the artist’s style, and assess the impression the work made within the context of its time.

Hugh Belsey is an art historian and an authority on the art of Thomas Gainsborough.

“An essential work, as impressive as it is weighty” - Huon Mallalieu, CountryLife

“This prodigious, long-gestated undertaking has been triumphantly accomplished, for which we must be most grateful to Hugh Belsey, who has been associated with Gainsborough for almost 40 years.” - Ian Robertson, The British Art Journal

“[A] magnificent catalogue” - Robin Simon, The Art Newspaper

All purchases support Art UK and Gainsborough's House