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This unfinished portrait of Thomas Gainsborough’s youngest daughter, Margaret (1751–1820), playing a theorbo (a kind of lute) unites two particularly personal aspects of the artist’s life and career: his deep affection for his family and friends, and their shared passion for music. The Gainsborough family were keen amateur musicians, and this portrait was once thought to be of the artist’s elder daughter Mary, who played the harpsichord, but is now identified as his youngest daughter, Margaret, the more musical member of the family. Margaret never married but spent much of her adult life caring for Mary who suffered from mental illness. Margaret is here shown in her mid-twenties, fashionably dressed and coiffed. She plucks the strings of her instrument while looking out to her right, perhaps making music in harmony with another member of her family.
Title
Portrait of Margaret Gainsborough holding a Theorbo
Date
about 1777
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
H 90.2 x W 69.9 cm
Accession number
NG6687
Acquisition method
accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax from the estate of George Pinto and allocated to the National Gallery, 2019
Work type
Painting
The National Gallery, London
Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England
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