Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
1785-1787
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 219.7 x 153.7 cm (86 1/2 x 60 1/2 in.) framed: 251.5 x 185.4 x 14 cm (99 x 73 x 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Accession Number
1937.1.92
Art Historical Context
Step into the opulent world of Georgian England with Thomas Gainsborough *Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan* (1785–1787), a masterful oil-on-canvas portrait now housed in the National Gallery of's Andrew W. Mellon. At an impressive 219.7 x 153.7 cm, this full-length depiction captures the sitter—Elizabeth Linley, a celebrated singer, poet, and wife of playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan a moment of poised elegance amid a lush, windswept landscape. Gainsborough, one of Britain's foremost Rococo portraitists, painted her during his late career, showcasing his signature loose, feathery brushwork th...
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...