Elizabeth (Jenks) Beaufoy, later Elizabeth Pycroft

Maker Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727-1788)

SitterSitter: Elizabeth (Jenks) Beaufoy, later Elizabeth Pycroft (British, christened 1759 - died 1824)

Collections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca.1780

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions91 x 60 in. (231.1 x 152.4 cm.)

DescriptionStanding center, full-length, the body turned slightly to the right, the right foot advanced, the head facing left front. Her bent right arm supports her train, the hand holding her scarf to her breast. The left hand, by her side, lies over the folds of her gown. Her brown hair, slightly powdered, is dressed high with gray gauze; curls fall on the neck. She wears a low-necked, pale-gold silk gown, shot with gray, the bosom and sleeves bound with pearls. Two blue bands at the hem of her skirt; a gauze scarf, of gray and rose, over her right shoulder floats behind her; a rose-and-gray bow on her shoe. Background of stormy sky, with trees low in the left corner and trees and foliage in the right foreground.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Label TextThe celebrated beauty Elizabeth Beaufoy wears the stiffly coiffed high-dressed hair then in fashion, ornamented with a strand of pearls. Gainsborough intended this painting to be enjoyed both up close and at a distance. Viewed at close range, the animated, unblended brushstrokes create the illusion of flickering movement. At a distance, the eye instinctively blends the roughly applied pigments into an overall unity. Intended to convey a vague impression of historical dress, Gainsborough modeled the costume on the 17th-century gowns found in Anthony van Dyck’s paintings. The gauze scarf, suspended weightlessly in the air, and the diaphanous violet-gray clouds convey the ethereal quality characteristic of Gainsborough’s later work.

Status

On view

Object number24.1