Cornard Wood

1740s

Making a living in London: landscapes, restoration, prints

Landscapes interest the young man most — plant sketches from the 1740s survive. He earns his living with landscapes on commission, touches up old paintings, assists the engraver John Boydell, and helps Francis Hayman decorate the supper boxes in Vauxhall Gardens.

15 July 1746

Marriage to Margaret Burr

On 15 July 1746 Gainsborough marries Margaret Burr, an illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Beaufort.

1748

His father dies; back to Sudbury

Gainsborough's father, John, dies in 1748. With no new commissions coming in London, the painter returns to Sudbury, to the house of his childhood.

c. 1749

Landscapes do not pay: a turn to portraiture

Gainsborough has always thought of himself as a landscape painter, but landscapes bring no income: in the England of the day they count as a “low genre”. Around 1749 he unites portrait and landscape in one composition for the first time, in “Mr and Mrs Andrews”.

31 gennaio 1750

Daughter born: Mary Gainsborough Fischer

1750s

Portraits pay the bills: the example of Hogarth

Gainsborough's main income comes from portraits; in this genre he tries to follow Hogarth, caring more about likeness than about conveying the sitter's social standing. Around 1753, probably, he receives a flattering commission for a portrait of Admiral Vernon, and he paints many members of his own family — for example a self-portrait of 1754 in a tricorn hat.