Thomas Gainsborough

Marking the 300th anniversary of his birth, this landmark exhibition celebrates Thomas Gainsborough’s considerable influence on British art and examines his legacy today. The first major survey exhibition of his work in over 20 years, it brings together 120 paintings and drawings in a once-in-a-generation tribute to this much-loved, quintessentially Georgian artist. Following Gainsborough’s journey from Suffolk to the fashionable worlds of Bath and London, leading experts explore his rise to fame, his enduring love of landscape and the innovative techniques that shaped his distinctive artistic style. Alongside celebrated masterpieces, the book reveals a relentlessly experimental artist through his drawings, prints, unusual materials and techniques. It also introduces the man behind the paintings: his passion for music and nature, his friendships with leading performers and cultural figures and the crucial role played by his wife and daughters in his life, career and legacy. Gainsborough’s portraits open a window onto the fashion, celebrity and society of his age, while his landscapes reveal his imaginative response to a changing world. Featuring more than 120 images, this beautiful book presents Gainsborough as an ambitious, unconventional and endlessly inventive artist whose influence extends far beyond the eighteenth century.