Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788)
Conversation in a Park (Gainsborough and his wife?)
c.1746–1748
Oil on canvas, 73 × 68 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
An early example of a conversation piece by Gainsborough. Often compared with Gainsborough‘s drawn portrait, from the same period, depicting a couple in a landscape, probably the artist and his future wife, whom he married in 1746 (department of Graphic Arts of the Louvre, acquired in 1982, R.F. 38947); but, due to a (relatively recent) annotation giving as models the names of Paul Sandby and his wife, this drawing was for a time considered to represent them, an identification which was taken up until 1997 (cf. Meslay) for the R.F. 1952-16. (Louvre)
See also:
• Burr, Margaret (1728-1798)