Portrait of George Pitt, First Baron Rivers

1769

Thomas Gainsborough

(British, 1727–1788)

Culture

England, 18th century

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

Framed: 261 x 181 x 9 cm (102 3/4 x 71 1/4 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 234.3 x 154.3 cm (92 1/4 x 60 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1971.2

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Location

203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

Gainsborough was famous for his portraits, but he especially loved painting landscapes.

Description

Although George Pitt reputedly led a life of debauchery and was a cruel husband, Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait endows him with an aura of dignity and refinement. This work was painted between Pitt’s appointments as ambassador to Turin, Italy, and Madrid, Spain, but he is very much the English gentleman at home on his country estate. Gainsborough balances the deep scarlet and green facing of Pitt’s military uniform with the cool, woodland landscape painted with wide, liquid brushstrokes of mauves, grays, and silvers.