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Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Thomas Gainsborough1785-1787
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
Elizabeth Linley was a successful singer in London before marrying playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Their union was not happy: Sheridan forbade her from performing professionally, and Linley lived mostly alone in the country. Meanwhile, Sheridan pursued his career — and affairs with other women — in the city.
Gainsborough’s painting of Linley reveals her emotional state. Her expression and the moody landscape behind her convey longing and sadness. Linley died at age 38, a few years after this work was finished.
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Details
- Title: Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- Creator: Thomas Gainsborough
- Date Created: 1785-1787
- Physical Dimensions: overall: 219.7 x 153.7 cm (86 1/2 x 60 1/2 in.) framed: 251.5 x 185.4 x 14 cm (99 x 73 x 5 1/2 in.)
- Provenance: The Hon. Mrs. Edward Bouverie [1750-1825, later Lady Robert Spencer], a friend of the sitter, Delapré Abbey, Northampton; by descent to her grandson, General Everard Bouverie [1789-1871]; (his estate sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 2 March 1872, no. 110);[1] purchased by Alfred de Rothschild [1842-1918] for his father, Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild [1808-1879], Gunnersbury, Middlesex; by inheritance to his son, Nathaniel, 1st lord Rothschild [1840-1915]; by inheritance to his widow, Emma, Lady Rothschild; by inheritance to her nephew, Nathaniel Mayer Victor, called Victor, 3rd baron and later 3rd lord Rothschild [1910-1990];[2] sold 1936 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); purchased 26 April 1937 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA. [1] The painting was added to the sale the day before by Edward Playdell-Bouverie, General Bouverie's nephew and executor, and it does not appear in the printed catalogue. Michael Hall, curator to Edmund de Rothschild kindly provided this detail; see his "Rothschild Picture Provenances" from 1999 and letter of 27 February 2002, in NGA curatorial files. [2] Details of the Rothschild family inheritance were kindly provided by Michael Hall (see note 1); he cites relevant documents in The Rothschild Archive, London.
- Medium: oil on canvas
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