Gainsborough: A Portrait

Frank, lucid and modern, this is a fresh portrait of Thomas Gainsborough, the most sensuous artist of the eighteenth century.

** Selected as a Book of the Year in The Times, Sunday Times and Observer **

''Compulsively readable - the pages seem to turn themselves'' John Carey, Sunday Times
''Brings one of the very greatest [artists] vividly to life'' Literary Review

Thomas Gainsborough lived as if electricity shot through his sinews and crackled at his finger ends. He was a gentle and empathetic family man, but had a shockingly loose, libidinous manner and a volatility that could lead him to slash his paintings.

James Hamilton reveals the artist in his many contexts: the talented Suffolk lad, transported to the heights of fashion; the rake-on-the-make in London, learning his craft in the shadow of Hogarth; the society-portrait painter in Bath and London who earned huge sums by charming the right people into his studio. With fresh insights into original sources, Gainsborough: A Portrait transforms our understanding of this fascinating man, and enlightens the century that bore him.

• | Author: James Hamilton
• | Publisher: Orion Publishing Co
• | Publication Date: Aug 09, 2018
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781474601061
• | ISBN-10: 1474601065