On loan
Castle Howard (York, UK): Thomas Gainsborough display
- Artist
- Thomas Gainsborough 1727–1788
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 2349 x 1486 mm
frame: 2608 x 1737 x 115 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle 1913
- Reference
- N02928
Display caption
The large format of this unfinished painting would normally be used for grand portraits of the rich or famous, instead of the working-class woman shown here. In fact, there is a tradition that the woman is the wealthy Hon Mrs Graham in fancy dress.
Whether it is a fancy-dress portrait
or a depiction of a working woman, the painting raises some intriguing questions. Does it simply pander to fantasies of dignified poverty or encourage true sympathy for ordinary people? Is this a kind of voyeuristic ‘pin-up’, or a powerful image of a real social type?
Gallery label, September 2004
Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.
You might like
Thomas Gainsborough Figure Study for ‘The Housemaid’
c.1785–8
Thomas Gainsborough The Baillie Family
c.1784
Thomas Gainsborough The Rev. Sir Henry Bate-Dudley, Bart
c.1780
Thomas Gainsborough Mrs Susanna Gardiner
c.1780–5
Thomas Gainsborough Pomeranian Bitch and Puppy
c.1777
Thomas Gainsborough Boy Driving Cows near a Pool
c.1786
Thomas Gainsborough The Artist’s Daughter Mary
1777
Thomas Gainsborough Musidora
c.1780–8
Thomas Gainsborough The Bridge
c.1786
Thomas Gainsborough Gypsy Encampment, Sunset
c.1778–80
After Thomas Gainsborough Copy of ‘The Watering Place’
date not known
Thomas Gainsborough Sir William Blackstone
1774
Thomas Gainsborough Admiral Sir Charles Thompson, Bt
1774
Thomas Gainsborough Tristram and Fox
c.1775–85
Thomas Gainsborough The Artist’s Daughter Margaret
c.1772