{"product_id":"gainsborough-9781474601061","title":"Gainsborough","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e** Selected as a Book of the Year in \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eObserver **\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e''Compulsively readable - the pages seem to turn themselves'' John Carey, \u003ci\u003eSunday Times \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e''B\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003erings one of the very greatest [artists] vividly to life'' \u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThomas Gainsborough lived as if electricity shot through his sinews and crackled at his finger ends. He was a gentle and empathetic family man, but had a shockingly loose, libidinous manner and a volatility that could lead him to slash his paintings. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJames Hamilton reveals the artist in his many contexts: the talented Suffolk lad, transported to the heights of fashion; the rake-on-the-make in London, learning his craft in the shadow of Hogarth; the society-portrait painter in Bath and London who earned huge sums by charming the right people into his studio. With fresh insights into original sources, \u003ci\u003eGainsborough: A Portrait\u003c\/i\u003e transforms our understandin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith \u003cb\u003egreat imaginative verve\u003c\/b\u003e [Hamilton recreates] the social atmosphere of the places where the artist and his family settled ... [Hamilton] is \u003cb\u003econstantly fascinating about the paintings\u003c\/b\u003e ... His book is gorgeously illustrated and \u003cb\u003ecompulsively readable \u003c\/b\u003e- the pages seem to turn themselves. Almost as good as owning a Gainsborough -- John Carey * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003eshrewd and entertaining\u003c\/b\u003e biography ...  Hamilton's approach is influenced by his perception that Gainsborough owed much to Hogarth ... This valuable insight informs both Hamilton's exploration of Gainsborough's art and his \u003cb\u003ethorough and imaginative\u003c\/b\u003e interpretation of the life ... Hamilton's book \u003cb\u003ebrings one of the very greatest [artists] vividly to life\u003c\/b\u003e -- Robin Simon * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eColourful and thoughtful\u003c\/b\u003e ... What Hamilton's \u003cb\u003evivid\u003c\/b\u003e book makes clear is just how lucky some of his sitters were; what they got for their guineas was not simply a likeness of imperishable glamour, but the company of a man who was every bit as lively and engaging as his paintings -- Michael Prodger * The Times  Book of the Week\u003ci\u003e *\u003cbr\u003eAlthough [Hamilton's] primary focus is the life rather than the work ... the \u003cb\u003evivid descriptions\u003c\/b\u003e of Gainsborough's studio practice breathe an authentic whiff of turps and linseed oil into the story ... \u003cb\u003eHighly readable and brilliantly reconstructed\u003c\/b\u003e -- Michael Bird * Daily Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHamilton is a first-rate art historian\u003c\/b\u003e ... He gives us deft explanations of mysterious artistic effects - Gainsborough's use of ground glass in the medium, and how he might have learnt about it, and what it does to the surface. But the question of money is Hamilton's core expertise: how much Gainsborough earned and how much of it went on necessary display, such as grand houses in Bath and Pall Mall. And \u003cb\u003efascinating\u003c\/b\u003e it is, too ... Gainsborough is one of the most lovable of great artists, and his personality shines through. This is \u003cb\u003ean enjoyable biography\u003c\/b\u003e by a writer who understands him -- Philip Hensher * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e[A] \u003cb\u003erichly humane \u003c\/b\u003ebiography of the artist ... [An] \u003cb\u003eastute yet generous\u003c\/b\u003e book -- Kathryn Hughes * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e[A] \u003cb\u003ewonderful \u003c\/b\u003enew biography ... Hamilton is \u003cb\u003efascinating on Gainsborough's experimental and innovative technique\u003c\/b\u003e, how he moved from what he calls the 'dabbing' of the artist's early paintings, with their more doll-like figures and outlines, to the characteristic loose sweeps, the 'brushing' style of his later work -- Lucy Lethbridge * Financial Times *\u003cbr\u003eJames Hamilton's \u003cb\u003ewholly absorbing\u003c\/b\u003e biography is very different from the usual kind of art historical study that often surrounds such a major figure as Thomas Gainsborough (1727-88). Hamilton is positively in love with his subject, and \u003cb\u003ewrites with verve and enthusiasm\u003c\/b\u003e, yet grounds it on vast research with primary and secondary sources, all impeccably noted -- Marina Vaizey * The Arts Desk *\u003cbr\u003eHamilton's Gainsborough is a 'Jack-the-Lad', a 'swigging, gigging, kissing, drinking, fighting' good-time city boy in London and Bath ... [Hamilton] is strong both on the Gainsborough who is stirred by harvest gleaners and woodland cottages, and the Gainsborough who frets about his framing fees and boasts about the musical instruments he has bought ... [The book] \u003cb\u003egallops along at highwayman's pace \u003c\/b\u003e -- Laura Freeman * Apollo Magazine *\u003cbr\u003eSpendthrift, talking nineteen to the dozen, laddish, musical and often resentful of the sitters that he had to paint in order to earn a living (\"confounded ugly creatures\"), [Gainsborough] is \u003cb\u003ebrought to lively and likeable life\u003c\/b\u003e in \u003ci\u003eGainsborough: A Portrait \u003c\/i\u003eby James Hamilton. The painter was, Hamilton says, more serious about his art than he let on, but it is those trace elements of his personality that give his pictures their sparkle -- Michael Prodger * Sunday Times \u003c\/i\u003eArt Books of the Year 2017\u003ci\u003e *\u003cbr\u003eThis \u003cb\u003eaffectionate and \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eintricately researched\u003c\/b\u003e biography is a memorable account of Gainsborough as 'one of the most joyous eccentrics' of his time -- Jane Shilling * Daily Mail \u003c\/i\u003eMust Reads\u003ci\u003e *\u003cbr\u003eWere Mr and Mrs Andrews complete pricks? In his \u003cb\u003edelightfully racy\u003c\/b\u003e portrait of one of our most renowned British portraitists, the art historian James Hamilton suggests that Thomas Gainsborough's wedding picture of a pair of snooty Suffolk landowners is adorned with more pictures of penises than the wall of a public loo. This is just one of many new lights cast on Gainsborough, a \"swigging, gigging, kissing, drinking, fighting\" Jack-the-lad who, with his gift of the gab and his canny eye on the main chance, cavorts through Georgian England -- Rachel Campbell-Johnston * The Times \u003c\/i\u003eArt Books of the Year 2017\u003ci\u003e *\u003cbr\u003eThis account of the Georgian portrait painter's life is \u003cb\u003eset against a backdrop of dirt and highwaymen\u003c\/b\u003e and skeletons on gibbets on Hounslow Heath. An 18th-century Scottish sex therapist even makes an appearance. But for all the fun the author has with the painter's penchant for drink and sex, the writing really takes off when Hamilton engages with Gainsborough's paintings themselves in all their swimmy, silken sheen -- Teddy Jamieson * Sunday Herald \u003c\/i\u003eBooks of the Year\u003ci\u003e *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eGlitters from beginning to end\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jonathan Wright * Catholic Herald \u003c\/i\u003eBooks of the Year\u003ci\u003e *\u003cbr\u003eA \u003cb\u003efine and empathetic \u003c\/b\u003eportrait [of] a man who was as lively as his brushwork -- Michael Prodger * RA Magazine *\u003cbr\u003e[Gainsborough's] tetchiness animates this \u003cb\u003eenjoyable\u003c\/b\u003e biography, which also shows how his techniques were ahead of their time * Daily Telegraph *\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48739598729559,"sku":"9781474601061","price":12.34,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781474601061.jpg?v=1720052698","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/gainsborough-9781474601061","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}