Dr Ralph Schomberg
Artist: Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727 - 1788)
Original Dimensions: 91 3/4" x 60 3/8"
Location: National Gallery of Art, London
About Artwork: (About 1770) "In 1759 Gainsborough moved to the fashionable spa town of Bath, where he established a very successful portrait-painting practice and remained for 15 years. He painted this portrait of Dr Ralph Schomberg, aged about 56, in Bath around 1770. Gainsborough consulted various doctors during his years in Bath, both for his own medical problems and about the recurring mental instability of his elder daughter, Mary. This portrait may have been painted in place of medical fees. Dr Schomberg stands at a slight angle to us. His pose is upright and subtly deferential, and his expression conveys benevolent concern. The romantically wild yet artificial landscape, with a wooded hillside under a darkening sky, is painted with enormous speed and sureness, using bold unblended brushstrokes so fluid that dark paint has run down the canvas at the bottom left. The red of Schomberg’s frock coat has faded unevenly in the light." - (National Gallery of Art, London)

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