Biography for Thomas Gainsborough

Employment

Gainsborough was sent to London from his native Suffolk at the age of 14 and there became a pupil of the French engraver and etcher Francois Gravelot (1699-1773). he later spent three years as a pupil of Francis Hayman (1708-1776) and attempted to establish himself in London. He returned to his birthplace Sudbury in 1745, moving on to Ipswich where he became successful especially as a portrait painter. In 1760 he settled in Bath where he built a thriving practive. He became a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768, and moved back to London in 1774.He was very popular at Court and in society at large, and was in great demand by patrons. While renowned for his portraits, he was also an outstanding landscape painter and a printmaker.