Abel Moysey

1759–1774

Bath: Van Dyck and Rubens in the houses of the local aristocracy

Of great importance to Gainsborough is his acquaintance with paintings by Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens owned by local aristocrats; he copies some of them. The study of the old masters is linked to the appearance in his landscapes of luminous distances that he had not been able to achieve before.

1760s

“Sick of portraits”

In a letter to a friend Gainsborough confesses that he is sick of portraits and longs to take his viola da gamba and walk off to some quiet village to paint landscapes. He has little regard for his gentleman patrons, whose only part worth looking at, he says, is their purse; by now he owns five viols — three by Henry Jaye and two by Barak Norman.

17 October 1763

A false report of his death

There are more portrait commissions in Bath than he can carry out, and in 1763 Gainsborough falls ill from overwork: on 17 October the local newspaper reports his death, and the next day admits its mistake.