Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough(1727-1788) was born in Sudbury, a village in Suffolk. His father was an unsuccessful cloth merchant; his mother was a woman of some cultivation and an amateur artist. Gainsborough came to London when he was fifteen. At first he was apprenticed to a silversmith, and soon after he worked with a French engraver. Gainsborough's first attempt at an artist's career was a failure. In 1746, at the age of nineteen, he was back at Sudbury after marrying in London a daughter of Duke of Beaufort who had a comfortable income..

For the next three years he worked as a portrait and landscape painter at Ipswich. He then moved to Bath, where he had success as a portrait painter and sent his works from time to time to exhibitions in London. He remained for fourteen years in Bath, at the age of forty-seven he went back to London where he became ever more and more obviously a rival to Reynolds till he died at the age of sixty-one.

Gainsborough excelled himself in portraits (often with landscapes backgrounds) and in landscapes (generally with figures and livestock). We know from his letters that he looked on portrait painting as his trade and on landscape painting as a form of pleasure analogous to the pleasure he experienced in listening to music or in playing the viola da gamba; and in his studio when he died there were many landscapes and many drawings for landscape compositions which he could not or had not wished to sell.

As a portrait painter Gainsborough began in the tradition of the localised portrait: in Ipswich he painted country gentry surrounded by cottages and cornfields which they owned. He painted the landscapes, as noted, in the Dutch tradition, but the figures – with dainty elegance he learned from French masters. His later and more personal manner in portrait was developed at Bath when he had seen portraits by Van Dyck in neighbouring mansions. Although being a profound admirer of Van Dyck, the artist's admiration didn't detract him from his personal originality, which has a unique quality and power to invest a sitter with an air of delicate refinement.

Notes:

Gainsborough [`geinzb: rou]

Van Dyck [væ n`daik]

Duke of Beaufort [dju: k ov bo`fo: r] – герцог де Бофор

an amateur [æ n`æ mə tə ] – любитель, дилетант

failure [`feiljə r] – неуспех, неудача

obviously [`obviə sli] – очевидно, ясно, явно

unique quality [ju`ni: k `kwolə ti] – уникальное качество, свойство, особенность

1. Переведите и запомните следующие словосочетания из текста:

to work with

an engraver

the first attempt at an artist's career

at the age of nineteen

from time to time

to become a rival to…

to excel oneself in smth

to learn from…

personal manner in portrait

to be a profound admirer of…

to detract from…

personal originality

a sitter

delicate refinement

1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы:

1.When and where was Thomas Gainsborough born?

2.What was Gainsborough’s first attempt at an artist's career?

3.Where did he have success as a portrait painter?

4.When did he become more and more obviously a rival to Reynolds?

5.How did he paint the landscapes?

6.What was his style in painting the figures?

7.How did his later and more personal manner in portrait develop?

1. Переведите на английский язык.

1.Томас Гейнсборо – художник с мировой известностью.

2.«Портрет герцогини де Бофор» является настоящим шедевром мировой живописи.

3.Гейнсборо, как и Рейнолдс, был мастером главным образом парадного, а не интимного портрета.

4.Пейзажи и портреты местных помещиков – основные темы картин Гейнсборо.

1. Выпишите из текста неправильные глаголы и дайте их три основные формы.

Контрольное задание 4.

I. Прочтите и устно переведите текст “Surrealism”. Пользуясь словарём, выпишите значение и транскрипцию незнакомых слов.