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Thomas
Gainsborough was one of the most famous portrait and landscape
painters of 18th century Britain. The poetic sensibility of his
paintings caused Constable to say, 'On looking at them, we find
tears in our eyes and know not what brings them.'
Gainsborough was
born in 1727 in Sudbury, England. His father was a
schoolteacher. At the age of fourteen he impressed his father
with his pencilling skills so that he let him go to London to
study art in 1740. In London he became associated with William
Hogarth and his school. In the 1740s, Gainsborough married
Margaret Burr. His work, mainly landscape paintings, was not
selling very well. He returned to Sudbury in 1748—1749 and
concentrated on the painting of portraits.
In 1759,
Gainsborough and his family moved to Bath. There he studied
portraits of Van Dyck and was able to get high society clients.
In 1769 he began to send his works to the Royal Academy's annual
exhibitions. He selected portraits of known or notorious clients
to attract attention. Exhibitions helped him to gain a national
reputation and he was invited to become one of the founding
members of the Royal Academy in 1769.
In 1774,
Gainsborough and his family moved to London He again exhibited
his paintings in the Royal Academy, with portraits of
contemporary celebrities, including the Duke and Duchess of
Cumberland. These exhibitions continued for the next six years.
In 1780, he painted the portraits of King George III and his
queen and later received many royal commissions and became the
favourite painter of the Royal Family.
In his later
years, he often painted landscapes and was one of the
originators of the eighteenth-century British landscape school,
and one of the dominant British portraitists of the second half
of the 18th century. Gainsborough painted more from his
observations of nature than using formal rules. He said, Tm sick
of portraits, and wish very much to ... walk off to some sweet
village, where I can paint landscapes and enjoy the fag end of
life in quietness and ease.'
His best works,
such as Portrait of Mrs. Graham; Mary and Margaret: The
Painter's Daughters; William Hallett and His Wife Elizabeth, and
Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher, display the individuality of
his subjects.
Gainsborough died
of cancer on 2 August 1788 in his 62nd year.
Translate the
following sentences into English.
1. Томас Гейнсборо, один из самых знаменитых британских
портретистов и пейзажистов XVIII века, известен поэтическим
чувством, которое он вносил в свои картины.
2. На отца Гейнсборо произвела впечатление техника рисования его
сына, и он послал его обучаться искусству (живописи) в Лондон,
где он стал общаться с Уильямом Хоггартом.
3. Пейзажи Гейнсборо очень хорошо продавались, и ему удалось
найти клиентов из высшего общества и послать свои работы на
ежегодные выставки Королевской академии.
4. Он завоевал общенациональную известность и стал одним из
ведущих членов академии.
5. Когда он переехал в Лондон, он снова стал выставлять свои
картины, в том числе портреты современных ему знаменитостей, в
королевской академии, и получил многочисленные заказы от
королевской семьи.
6. Гейнсборо был одним из ведущих портретистов XIX века.
7. Позже он часто рисовал пейзажи и был одним из основателей
британской школы пейзажа XVIII века.
8. Гейнсборо писал свои пейзажи, больше основываясь на
собственных наблюдениях природы, чем руководствуясь формальными
правилами.
9. Его портреты отражают индивидуальность изображенных на них
людей.
1. Thomas Gainsborough, one of the most
famous British portrait and landscape painters of the 18th
century, is famous for the poetic sensibility of his paintings.
2. Gainsborough's father was impressed by his son's pencilling
skills and sent him to study art to London, where he became
associated with William Hogarth.
3. Gainsborough's landscape paintings were selling very well,
and he was able to get high society clients and send works to
the Royal Academy's annual exhibitions.
4. He gained a national reputation and became one of the
founding members of the Royal Academy.
5. When he moved to London, he again exhibited his paintings,
which included portraits of contemporary celebrities, in the
Royal Academy, and received many royal commissions.
6. Gainsborough was one of the dominant portraitists of the 19th
century.
7. Later he often painted landscapes and was one of the
originators of the 18th century British landscape school.
8. Gainsborough painted his landscapes more from his
observations of nature than using formal rules.
9. His portraits display the individuality of his subjects.
Из пособия "ЕГЭ. Английский язык.
Устные темы" Занина Е.Л. (2010, 272с.) - Part
two.
Additional topics.
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