Portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

The identity of the painter of this portrait had long been uncertain. However, recent research by Courtauld students revealed that the face was most likely painted by Thomas Gainsborough himself, when he was in his forties. Left unfinished at his death, the work was completed by his nephew and close collaborator, Gainsborough Dupont. Dupont altered the wig and added a jacket copied from his uncle’s most famous self-portrait, now at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.