GAINSBOROUGH, Thomas
(b. 1727, Sudbury, d. 1788, London)

The Artist's Wife

c. 1758
Oil on canvas, 76 x 64 cm
Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Gainsborough's wife, the former Margaret Burr (1728-1798) may have been the illegitimate daughter of the duke of Bedford. Gainsborough's early portraits are fresh and delicate, often in the contemporary French manner with a touch of van Dyck.