Lieutenant Colonel Paul Pechell (1724–1800)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
30 1/8 x 25 1/8 in. (76.5 x 63.8 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Payne Bingham Jr., 1990
Accession Number
1990.200
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of 18th-century British portrait with Thomas Gainsborough's *Lieutenant Colonel Paul Pechell (1724–1800)*. This oil on canvas captures the poised likeness of Pechell, a military officer life spanned the Georgian era of social upheaval and imperial expansion. At 30 1/8 x 25 1/8 inches, the intimate scale invites viewers close, emphasizing Gainsborough's mastery in rendering subtle expressions and textures through fluid brushstrokes. Gainsborough, a leading figure in the Rococo and emerging Romantic movements, revolutionized portrait painting with his loose, impressi...
About the Artist
Thomas Gainsborough · 1727–1788
Thomas Gainsborough was born on 14 May 1727 in Sudbury, Suffolk, the youngest of nine children to wool dealer John Gainsborough and his wife Mary. Demonstrating prodigious talent from childhood, he sketched landscapes in the local woods and fields, fostering his lifelong passion for the genre. At age thirteen, he moved to London, where he trained under the French engraver and illustrator Hubert-Fr...