Conversation in a Park (1746-1748)

Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-1788)

Conversation in a Park (Gainsborough and his wife?)
c.17461748
Oil on canvas, 73 × 68 cm
Musée du LouvreParis

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)