'The Morning Walk' (1785) was damaged Saturday afternoon at the National Gallery in London after a man scratched the work with a screwdriver.

Art historian James Hamilton believes Thomas Gainsborough hid three phallic symbols in a portrait of Robert Andrews and his wife Frances at their estate in Sudbury, Suffolk.

Read THE DAILY PIC: The Huntington Library's greatest treasure broke records in 1921, and shot to fame.

Mary, Contessa of Howe, Thomas Gainsborough, 1763-4

Gainsborough's daughters Mary and Margaret were baptised in February 1750 and August 1751. Mary appears to be about nine or ten years old, and Margaret about eight or nine. Gainsborough had moved with his family from Ipswich to Bath in the autumn of 1759 and this work may therefore have been painted in Bath rather than in Ipswich. The painting is unfinished, but the outlines of a cat whose tail is being pulled can be seen on the lap of the elder girl. [Oil on canvas, 75.6 x 62.9 cm]…

by Terry Riggs © Tate Britain / The portrait and landscape painter Thomas Gainsborough was born at Sudbury, Suffolk, the fifth son of a cloth merchant. He was apprenticed at the age of thirteen to a London silversmith, and was taught by Hubert Gravelot, a French book-illustrator. By 1745 he had established his own studio in London. He married Margaret Burr in 1746, and by 1748 had taken up residence in Suffolk.

View Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806), three-quarter-length, in a pale blue dress and black hat After Gainsborough Thomas; oil on canvas; 50 x 40 in. (127 x 101.6 cm.); . Access more artwork lots and estimated & realized auction prices on MutualArt.

Buy The Art of Thomas Gainsborough – A Little Business for the Eye (The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) First Edition by Rosenthal, Michael (ISBN: 9780300081374) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

Charles Marsham, 1st Earl of Romney, commissioned a life-size group portrait of his children, Amelia Charlotte, Frances, Harriot and Charles from the much ...

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