Thomas Gainsborough and the Impending Storm
Did Georgian portraits of English aristocracy hide a darker alternative narrative?
Thomas Gainsborough was not a typical Rococo artist and in many ways his work is more aligned with the Romantic movement. He began his career painting landscapes, but soon found that portraiture paid better. He painted many images of the elite at their pastimes, but he often included a veiled critique of the wider societal situation.
His most iconic work, the double portrait of Robert and Frances Andrews painted in 1750, is an early example of this approach. Not a personal favourite of mine, but I feel I’m justified in using the word ‘iconic’ here as it was chosen as one of just four paintings to represent all of British art in the 1953 exhibition in Paris celebrating the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Possibly, its representation of an English idyll was the main factor in selection.
Here we see the two wealthy patrons being civilised and cultured. The man, Robert, strikes a casual stance in his gentleman’s hunting strides, with gun and dog. Frances Mary, his very fashionable and rather rigid wife, is writing a letter… or perhaps about to embroider? It’s thought her pose, which displays the fine silk of her gown and costly shoes, was designed to allow the addition of a baby at a…
