Mary (1756-1834) was the daughter of Lord Robert Manners and married William Hamilton Nisbet of Belhaven and Dirleton in 1777. Dating from Gainsborough's second period in London (1774-88) this is a typical example of his mature style. It was left to the National Galleries of Scotland by the sitter's great grand-daughter.
Thomas Gainsborough (English, 1727 - 1788)
Gainsborough excelled as a portrait and landscape painter. He was born in Sudbury, Suffolk, and trained in London. He became a highly successful artist, first in Ipswich, then in Bath. He concentrated on portraiture to make a living and continued to build on the grand manner of Van Dyck, but also introduced a refreshing informality through his imaginative landscape backgrounds and his fluid, lively brushwork. Gainsborough was a founder member of the Royal Academy in 1768 and returned to London in 1774. He was artistically and temperamentally quite different from his rival Reynolds, but the two artists developed a sincere mutual respect.
