Framed oil painting: Thomas Bowlby (1721-1795) by Thomas Gainsborough, oil on canvas 1766

Key information

Museum number

2010.1

Object

Framed oil painting: Thomas Bowlby (1721-1795) by Thomas Gainsborough, oil on canvas 1766

Gallery label

Thomas Bowlby (1721-1795)
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)
Oil on canvas, 1766

This recently rediscovered portrait is typical of Gainsborough’s work in Bath. The sitter was a civil servant and later MP for Launceston. Lord North described him as ‘a man of as upright a heart, as clear a head, and as honest a mind as anyone living’.

Gainsborough painted both Bowlby and his wife when they visited Bath. He has captured Bowlby’s amiable character beautifully, as well as the extravagant details of his dress with its gold braid and minute embroidery.

2010.1
Bequest of the Bowlby Family, 2010

On display?

Yes
image 2010-1 bowlby db
image 2010-1 bowlby
image 100_4456
image A10117
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