Thomas Gainsborough, 'Mr and Mrs Andrews', about 1750
About the work
Overview
This portrait of Mr Robert (1725–1806) and Mrs Frances Andrews (about 1732–1780) is the masterpiece of Gainsborough’s early career. It has been described as a ‘triple portrait’ – of Robert Andrews, his wife and his land.
Behind Mr and Mrs Andrews is a wide view looking south over the valley of the River Stour. Robert Andrews owned nearly 3000 acres and much of the land we see here belonged to him. Gainsborough has displayed his skills as a painter of convincingly changing weather and naturalistic scenery, which was still a novelty at this time.
The unpainted patch on Mrs Andrews’s lap may have been reserved to later paint a baby. Surrounded by the beauty of the woods and clouds of the Essex countryside, self-consciously posing beside their fertile harvest field and well-stocked pastures, Mr and Mrs Andrews live on in a moving evocation of themselves at home in their own landscape.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Mr and Mrs Andrews
- Artist
- Thomas Gainsborough
- Artist dates
- 1727 - 1788
- Date made
- about 1750
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 69.8 × 119.4 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought with contributions from The Pilgrim Trust, the Art Fund, Associated Television Ltd, and Mr and Mrs W. W. Spooner, 1960
- Inventory number
- NG6301
- Location
- Room 34
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century English Frame (original frame)
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Judy Egerton, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings’, London 2000; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2012Seduced by Art: Photography Past and PresentThe National Gallery (London)31 October 2012 - 20 January 2013
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2018Thomas Gainsborough: the Modern LandscapeHamburger Kunsthalle2 March 2018 - 3 June 2018
Bibliography
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1904W. Armstrong, The Peel Collection and the Dutch School of Painting, London 1904
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1934R. Fry, Reflections on British Painting, London 1934
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1936S. Sitwell, Conversation Pieces, London 1936
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1948R.W. Ketton-Cremer, 'Portraits in the Landscape Park', The Listener, 1948
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1951R. Fry, Reflections on British Painting, revised edn, London 1951
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1953E.K. Waterhouse, Painting in Britain 1530-1790, London 1953
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1962The National Gallery, The National Gallery: January 1960 - May 1962, London 1962
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1969D. Fitz-Gerald, 'Gravelot and His Influence on English Furniture', Apollo, XC, 1969
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1976H. Potterton, Reynolds and Gainsborough, Themes and Painters in the National Gallery 2, London 1976
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1982J.T. Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough: A Critical Text and Catalogue Raisonné, Ithaca 1982
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1984A. Corri, The Search for Gainsborough, London 1984
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1989H. Prince, 'Art and the Agrarian Revolution, 1710-1815', in Space and History, Proceedings of the Scopelos Symposium, Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 1989, pp. 131-42
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1990D. Shawe-Taylor, The Georgians: Eighteenth-Century Portraiture and Society, London 1990
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1991M. Cormack, The Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, Cambridge 1991
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1992J. Bensusan-Butt, 'The Carters and the Andrews', Gainsborough's House Review, 1992
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1997S. Foister, 'Young Gainsborough and the English Taste for Dutch Landscape', Apollo, CXLVI/426, 1997, pp. 3-11
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1997R. Jones, 'Gainsborough's Materials and Methods', Apollo, 1997, pp. 19-26
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1997O. Meslay, 'The Youthful Gainsborough and French Art', Apollo, 1997, pp. 12-8
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1998J. Egerton, The British School, London 1998
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1998J. Egerton, '"Mr and Mrs Andrews": Thomas Gainsborough's geniales Frühwerk als Auftakt eines neuen Portraittypus', Belvedere, 1, 1998, pp. 54-69
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2000Egerton, Judy, National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings, revised edn, London 2000
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2002M. Rosenthal and M. Myrone, Gainsborough (exh. cat. Tate Britain, 24 October 2002- 19 January 2003; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 9 February - 11 May 2003; Museum of Fine Arts, 9 June - 14 September 2003), London 2002
Frame
This is an eighteenth-century English frame, gilded and crafted from pinewood. It has swept outlines with S-scroll motifs. The back edge is adorned with a semi-flower and leaf pattern. Pierced cartouches feature palmettes at the centres and shell and C-scroll leaf motifs at the corners. Between the cartouches are ‘rinceaux’ (branches with foliage) and wing motifs. The sight edge features French acanthus leaves.
The frame was probably regilded when it was restored, before its acquisition by the National Gallery. The reverse bears the joiner’s markings for each corner. Made for Gainsborough’s Mr and Mrs Andrews, this is considered the original or first frame for this painting.
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.