Landscape with Figures under a Tree

1740

To London to study art

In 1740 Gainsborough leaves home to study art in London. He lodges with a silversmith, takes drawing lessons from Hubert-François Gravelot, a teacher at the St Martin's Lane Academy, and grows close to William Hogarth and his circle.

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 januari 1750

Daughter born: Mary Gainsborough Fischer

1751

Daughter born: Margaret Gainsborough