Sarah Dupont

INV-1056

Thomas Gainsborough (English, 1727–1788)

c. 1777–79

18th Centuryoil on canvasbritish

Date

c. 1777–79

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

77.2 × 64.5 cm (30 3/8 × 25 3/8 in.); Framed: 95.3 × 84.5 × 8.9 cm (37 1/2 × 33 1/4 × 3 1/2 in.)

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Location

Chicago, IL

Credit

Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection; through prior gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Denison B. Hull, Mr. and Mrs. William Kimball, and Mrs. Charles McCulloch

Although Thomas Gainsborough is known best for dazzling and opulent full-length portraits of society figures, the artist’s smaller paintings of his family are notable for their directness and intimacy. The subject of this portrait is the artist’s older sister, who married a carpenter in the siblings’ hometown of Sudbury in Suffolk, England, where Gainsborough established himself as a portrait painter before moving on to the fashionable cities of Bath and London.

Also notable

Works in the same vein

A27: Virginia Kitchen, 18th Century

Designed by Narcissa Niblack Thorne American, 1882-1966

E-22: French Provincial Bedroom of the Louis XV Period, 18th Century

Designed by Narcissa Niblack Thorne American, 1882-1966

Side Chair

Giles Grendey (English, 1693–1780) London, England

Looking Glass

Artist unknown (American, 18th–19th century) New York