This painting by Thomas Gainsborough, titled Mrs. Robinson ("Perdita") is housed in the Wallace Collection.
Thomas Gainsborough (died 1788) was an English portrait painter and landscape artist. He was a founding member of England's Royal Academy of the Arts. Among his best known works are The Blue Boy, Portrait of Mrs. Graham, The Painter's Daughters, and Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher. This painting, titled Mrs. Robinson—"Perdita"—is housed in the Wallace Collection at Hertford House; a smaller sketch of the same subject is at Windsor Castle. This portrait of the beautiful actress is one of Gainsborough's finest masterpieces. The lightness, dexterity, and transparency of the pigment is almost unrivaled, not only in the artist's work but in any picture of the 18th century. Mary Robinson was also a poet and novelist and was known as the "English Sappho." She is best known for her role as Perdita in Shakespeare's play The Winter's Tale. She was also King George IV's first public mistress - when he was still Prince of Wales.
Size: 3488px × 5250px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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