How you can use this image
This image can be used for non-commercial research or private study purposes, and other UK exceptions to copyright permitted to users based in the United Kingdom under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, as amended and revised. Any other type of use will need to be cleared with the rights holder(s).
Review the copyright credit lines that are located underneath the image, as these indicate who manages the copyright (©) within the artwork, and the photographic rights within the image.
The collection that owns the artwork may have more information on their own website about permitted uses and image licensing options.
Review our guidance pages which explain how you can reuse images, how to credit an image and how to find images in the public domain or with a Creative Commons licence available.
Buy a print or image licence
You can purchase this reproduction
If you have any products in your basket we recommend that you complete your purchase from Art UK before you leave our site to avoid losing your purchases.
Notes
Add or edit a note on this artwork that only you can see. You can find notes again by going to the ‘Notes’ section of your account.
This is the earliest known self portrait in oil by Gainsborough, and the only known one of him with his family. He sits with his wife, Margaret, and the little rosy-cheeked girl is probably Mary, their short-lived first daughter. It is likely Gainsborough began it before Mary’s burial on 1 March 1748, when he was not yet 21, and his wife Margaret was a year or so younger. Gainsborough portrays himself in a relaxed cross-legged pose, with one button of his waistcoat undone to suggest his elegant lack of concern with his appearance. He holds a piece of paper which may once have represented a drawing. The paint here and on the child has become transparent with age. Living in London at the time, Gainsborough had some evident difficulties with the landscape as well as with the proportions of the rather stiff-limbed figures.
Title
Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter
Date
about 1748
Medium
Oil on canvas
Measurements
H 92.1 x W 70.5 cm
Accession number
NG6547
Acquisition method
Acquired under the acceptance-in-lieu scheme at the wish of Sybil, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, in memory of her brother, Sir Philip Sassoon, 1994
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
-
Portrait of the Painter's Two Daughters Victoria and Albert Museum -
Wooded River Landscape with a Fisherman in a Rowing Boat, High Banks and Distant Mountains Victoria and Albert Museum -
Wooded Landscape with a Herdsman and Two Cows Victoria and Albert Museum -
Coastal Scene with Sailing and Rowing Boats and Figures on the Shore Victoria and Albert Museum -
Wooded Moonlight Landscape with a Pool and a Figure at the Door of a Cottage Victoria and Albert Museum -
Portrait of an Unknown Associate of the Prince of Wales English Heritage, Kenwood -
Wooded River Landscape with Figures on a Bridge, a Cottage, Sheep and Distant Mountains Victoria and Albert Museum - 498 more
