Portrait of a Woman c. 1750

This portrait was painted by Thomas Gainsborough, in England, during the second half of the 18th century. Gainsborough's work shows us the tastes and self-image of the British upper classes at a pivotal moment in their history. The sitter, most likely a young woman of the gentry, is portrayed in a contrived rural setting, complete with classical statuary and architecture. The scene speaks to a very particular notion of what is natural. Rather than presenting an actual landscape, Gainsborough is using a conventional visual language here, an idealised pastoral. This would have been immediately legible to his contemporary audience. The artifice is meant to communicate the sitter’s refinement. The kind of critical historical research that is brought to bear on paintings like this helps us to see them as reflections of specific social and institutional circumstances, rather than simply as timeless works of genius.