Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawing

William Jackson, one of Gainsborough’s closest friends and biographers, noted that if he had “to rest his [Gainsborough] reputation on one point, it should be on his Drawings”. Gainsborough was indeed a draftsman of rare talent and creativity, and his experiments in drawing inspired an entire generation of British artists, from John Constable (1776–1837) to J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). When not occupied with his lucrative portrait business, Gainsborough devoted much of his time to his true ...