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Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > 1600 to 1800

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Gainsborough (Paperback) Loot Price: R384
Discovery Miles 3 840
Gainsborough (Paperback): William Vaughan

Gainsborough (Paperback)

William Vaughan

Series: World of Art

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Loot Price R384 Discovery Miles 3 840

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This is a fascinating look at an artist most famous for his beautiful depictions of 18th-century aristocrats. But, as Vaughan stresses, Gainsborough's elegance belies his painstaking draughtsmanship and, although his portraiture is best known, Gainsborough thought of himself primarily as a landscape painter and his landscapes were important precursors of the Romantic era. Vaughan's work charts Gainsborough's life from his youth in Suffolk through training in London to his emergence as a society artist in Bath and final return to London, where he received the recognition of Royal patronage. Every chapter is lavishly illustrated with Gainsborough's own paintings as well as those of his contemporaries and influences. Vaughan also examines the key social and political changes in Britain and shows how Gainsborough observed them keenly and reflected them in his work. Although a Methodist and a political conservative, Gainsborough seemed to thrive on controversy. He never shied from an argument - and indeed had several with the Royal Academy of Arts. Vaughan's discussion of Gainsborough's methods of painting is particularly interesting. He preferred to paint by very low light - in fact, when he painted portraits the room had to be darkened so that he could first get the general form before moving onto the detail. He was a master of detail and painted people as they were rather than as they might like to be. This is a scholarly and readable work, part biography and social commentary and part art history. As well as the 172 illustrations (68 in colour) there is a useful bibliography and details of collections containing Gainsborough's paintings. This is an excellent introduction to Gainsborough's life and works, and those familiar with 18th-century British painting will also find much here to interest them. (Kirkus UK)
Gainsborough is one of the most appealing artists of the eighteenth century. Renowned for such elegant portraits as The Blue Boy and Countess Howe, he also pioneered a new form of landscape with a moody sensibility that prefigured the Romantic movement. He was a brilliant draftsman, and his art is full of inventiveness and visual delight. William Vaughan draws on recently discovered material to provide a fresh perspective on both the life and art of this master. He shows how closely Gainsborough's innovative manner can be connected to social and political developments in Britain, in particular the celebration of original genius in a time of burgeoning entrepreneurial commercialism. Above all, he demonstrates how, beneath the artist's charm, there lay a bedrock of shrewd observation and pictorial intelligence that gives his work a value for all time.

General

Imprint: Thames and Hudson
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Series: World of Art
Release date: March 2002
First published: June 2002
Authors: William Vaughan
Dimensions: 210 x 150 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
ISBN-13: 978-0-500-20358-3
Categories: Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > 1600 to 1800 > General
Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Painting & paintings > General
Books > Arts & Architecture > Art forms, treatments & subjects > Art treatments & subjects > Individual artists > General
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LSN: 0-500-20358-X
Barcode: 9780500203583

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