Portrait of Mrs. George Drummond
Artist
Thomas Gainsborough
Sudbury, England, 1727 – London 1788
Title
Portrait of Mrs. George Drummond
Date
1779-1782
Materials
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
230.1 x 152 cm
Credits
Purchase, John W. Tempest Fund, inv. 1951.1062
Collection
Western Art
This painting portrays the eldest of the Honourable Thomas Harley’s five daughters, Martha. He was a wealthy banker and merchant, Lord Mayor of London, and the younger son of the Earl of Oxford. This portrait was probably made to commemorate the marriage of Martha to George Drummond in 1779. It was intended for Harley’s new residence built with the fortune he had amassed supplying the British army during the American Revolution. In this magisterial painting – the only full-length portrait by Gainsborough in Canada – the suave, fluid brushwork of the artist's late style enhances both the richness of the white satin gown and the pastoral charm of the park. To create unity between sitter and setting, Gainsborough enframed the young subject within the trees in the background and gently silhouetted her head against their greenery.
