Miss Catherine Tatton
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 76 x 64 cm (29 15/16 x 25 3/16 in.) framed: 104.5 x 91.8 x 14 cm (41 1/8 x 36 1/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Accession Number
1937.1.99
Art Historical Context
Thomas Gainsborough’s *Miss Catherine Tatton* (1786) offers a graceful glimpse into late-eighteenth-century British portraiture. Painted in oil on canvas, the work exemplifies Gainsborough’s mature style, in which fluid brushwork and luminous color create a sense of vitality and elegance. The modest scale—roughly 30 by 25 inches—invites intimate viewing, allowing visitors to appreciate the subtle play of light across fabric and the sitter’s composed expression. Gainsborough, a leading figure of the British school alongside his rival Joshua Reynolds, was celebrated for balancing fashionable po...
About the Artist
Thomas Gainsborough · 1727–1788
Thomas Gainsborough was born on 14 May 1727 in Sudbury, Suffolk, the youngest of nine children to wool dealer John Gainsborough and his wife Mary. Demonstrating prodigious talent from childhood, he sketched landscapes in the local woods and fields, fostering his lifelong passion for the genre. At age thirteen, he moved to London, where he trained under the French engraver and illustrator Hubert-Fr...