Thomas Gainsborough, 'The Pitminster Boy', 1768-9
About the work
Overview
This portrait is a sensitive representation of the studio assistant who would ‘carry the artist’s materials when he went into the country to sketch’. His name is not recorded, but this painting has been named after the child’s home village in Somerset. The loose handling of the paint and unfinished nature suggest it was executed quite quickly and reflects the intimate relationship the Gainsborough had with the subject, as a member of his household. The artist was experimenting freely with pose and expression. The painting follows the Dutch tradition of the tronie, in which a figure is painted to explore character, rather than as the portrait of an individual. This places the emphasis on capturing the expression on the young boy’s face.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Pitminster Boy
- Artist
- Thomas Gainsborough
- Artist dates
- 1727 - 1788
- Date made
- 1768-9
- Medium and support
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 60.8 × 50.4 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Private Collection courtesy of Gainsborough's House
- Inventory number
- L1354
- Location
- Room 34
- Image copyright
- Private Collection courtesy of Gainsborough's House
- Collection
- Main Collection
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.
Images
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(Showing 6 of 14 works)
Cornard Wood is on the outskirts of the village of Great Cornard, two miles from Sudbury, where Gainsborough was born. The view is taken from Abbas Hall, looking towards the village of Great Henny. The church of St Mary’s Great Henny appears in the background, our eyes led to it by the path windi...
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In 1759 Gainsborough moved to the fashionable spa town of Bath, where he established a very successful portrait-painting practice and remained for 15 years. He painted this portrait of Dr Ralph Schomberg, aged about 56, in Bath around 1770.Gainsborough consulted various doctors during his years i...
John Plampin is portrayed here aged about 25. The portrait was probably painted around five years before he inherited Chadacre Hall and the manor of Shimpling, Suffolk, in 1757. Gainsborough shows Plampin on Plampin land. The church tower in the background, though brushed in with only a few touch...
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This unfinished portrait of Thomas Gainsborough’s youngest daughter, Margaret (1751–1820), playing a theorbo (a kind of lute) unites two particularly personal aspects of the artist’s life and career: his deep affection for his family and friends, and their shared passion for music.The Gainsboroug...
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...
Gainsborough painted this portrait of William Hallett (1764–1842) and Elizabeth Stephen (1764–1833) shortly before their marriage on 30 July 1785. The couple are shown arm in arm on a morning walk with a Pomeranian sheepdog. The style of the portrait draws on the work of earlier painters Watteau...
Mrs Siddons (1755–1831) was the greatest tragic actress of her time, remaining at the top of her profession for 30 years. Gainsborough painted her in the winter of 1784–5, during her third London season.Most of Mrs Siddons’s earlier portraits depict her in character, but Gainsborough portrayed he...
Edward Gardiner was Gainsborough’s nephew, and recorded to have spent time in his studio. He is depicted in this portrait at the age of around eight or nine. It is thought that the painting was created as a pendant to a portrait of the sitter’s sister Susan, at the same age.The portrait of Edward...
This is the earliest known self portrait in oil by Gainsborough, and the only known one of him with his family. He sits with his wife, Margaret, and the little rosy-cheeked girl is probably Mary, their short-lived first daughter. It is likely Gainsborough began it before Mary’s burial on 1 March...
This portrait of Gainsborough’s older daughter Mary was produced in 1777 around the same time as a portrait made of his youngest, Margaret Gainsborough, holding a Theorbo (NG6687), which entered the National Gallery Collection in 2019. Unusually, the artist has inscribed the work with the name of...
A horse-drawn cart trundles along a woodland path on the way to market. Two boys and their dog walk alongside its giant wheel, while two girls sit perched on top of the produce. Carrots spill out of a basket, and turnips, potatoes and cabbages are loosely piled in. The older girl raises one arm,...
The two little girls in this unfinished portrait are Mary and Margaret, Gainsborough’s daughters by his wife, Margaret Burr, and their only children to survive infancy. Mary was baptised on 3 February 1750 and Margaret on 22 August 1751. Mary was given the name of the couple’s first daughter, who...
This portrait of Gainsborough’s daughters is likely to have been painted in Bath a year or so after the family moved there in late 1759. Mary appears to be about ten or eleven years old, and Margaret about eight or nine. Margaret leans her forehead back against her sister’s cheek as she holds the...
A group of cattle and goats has been herded to drink in a stream or pool. Two country girls, a child and a man sit quietly on the sandy bank. The sun begins to sink behind the distant hills, casting a golden evening light over the peaceful woody landscape.Gainsborough’s painting is based on a dra...
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