Mrs. John Taylor, Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1778
Thomas Gainsborough, portraitThomas GainsboroughBritish, 1727–1788

Mrs. John Taylor

c. 1778 · Painting

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Not on view at present

Where is “Mrs. John Taylor” now? Collection: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

National Gallery of Art

Washington, D.C., United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

Details

Accession number
1937.1.100

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

In the life of Thomas Gainsborough

The whole life
  1. 1774–1788

    The rivalry with Reynolds

    In London Gainsborough sets up his studio next to Christie's auction rooms, which he often visits. His London years are marked by rivalry with Joshua Reynolds, president of the Royal Academy.

  2. 1777

    Back at the Academy exhibition: “The Watering Place”

    In 1777, after a long break, Gainsborough again takes part in the Academy's exhibition, showing “The Watering Place” — his answer to Rubens's “Watering Place”. In the following years he keeps painting landscapes, and even two seascapes appear, one with a calm and one with a stormy sea.

  3. c. 1777

    Experiments with aquatint and etching

    About this time Gainsborough begins experimenting with printmaking in the then-novel techniques of aquatint and soft-ground etching.

  4. February 1780

    His daughter Molly marries Johann Fischer

    In February 1780 his daughter Molly marries the musician Johann Christian Fischer, a friend of the painter, to Gainsborough's dismay: he has realised that Fischer is forming an attachment to Molly while flirting with Peggy. The marriage lasts only eight months, because of their discord and Fischer's deceit.

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On the same theme · Woman

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