Thomas Gainsborough R.A. 1727-1788

The present work is one of the earliest recorded portrait drawings by Gainsborough.  Two other portraits, of an unknown gentleman and lady, are also thought to date from 1744 and are now in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (see John Hayes, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, 1970, cat. nos. 1 & 2).  Unlike these portraits, however, the present work is drawn on vellum and this, together with its meticulous handling, is wholly in the miniaturist tradition.

In 1744 Gainsborough was trying to establish himself in London, but would have made trips home to his native Suffolk where he executed the present work. He had been sent to London at the age of fourteen and became a pupil of Gravelot, the engraver. He then attended the St Martin's Lane Academy and spent three years as a pupil of Francis Hayman.  By 1745, however, his efforts had received little enouragement and he returned to his home in Sudbury before marrying and settling in Ipswich. 

We are grateful to Hugh Belsey for his help with cataloguing this lot