Research Paper on:
The Landscapes of Thomas Gainsborough

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
a status symbol and as an example of wealth and intelligence and power. With the work of Thomas Gainsborough, and the involvement of Thomas Gainsborough we gain some interesting looks  into the world of the wealthy and the dominant in 18th century Britain. In the following paper we examine the life and work of Thomas Gainsborough and then present an  examination of how he played into the world of the wealthy and dominant. Thomas Gainsborough "In addition to being one of Englands finest talents, the eighteenth-century painter Thomas  Gainsborough was a superb portraitist who left an indelible mark on the genre" (Gustafson, 1998; gainsborough.htm). Thomas was born in 1727 "Sudbury, about fifty miles northeast of London. The fifth  son of nine children, he was sent at age thirteen to London to become the assistant and pupil of the French engraver Hubert Gravelot; later he studied painting with Francis  Hayman, who specialized in historical scenes" (Gustafson, 1998; gainsborough.htm). When he was 19 he married Margaret Burr. Margaret was fortunate, as was Thomas, in that she was set up  to received 200 pounds a year for the rest of her life. This enabled Thomas to paint without worrying about how they would survive. In approximately 1748 he "left London  and returned to Sudbury, but later moved to Ipswich for seven or eight years. His success as a portrait artist, however, came in 1759 when he moved to the provincial  town of Bath, an English resort town which was then attracting the countrys rich and famous in large numbers" (Gustafson, 1998; gainsborough.htm). He stayed there until 1774 which is when  a "growing demand for his portraits led him to resettle in London" (Gustafson, 1998; gainsborough.htm). We can readily see that he was a powerful commercial success for he painted