Madame Lebrun

Thomas Gainsborough
Britain
1727 – 1788

Madame Lebrun
1780
oil on canvas
Currently on display, Gallery 15
Place made
London
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
127.0 x 102.6 cm
Credit line
Gift of Gladys Penfold Hyland in memory of her husband Frank 1964
Accession number
0.2025
Signature and date
Not signed. Not dated.
Provenance
W. Stirling Crawfurd 1878; his widow the Duchess of Montrose; her sale Christie's London, 14 July 1894; resold Christie's London, 4 May 1895; Leopold Hirsch by 1900; his sale Christie's London, 11 May 1934; Francis Howard, London from whom purchased by Frank and Gladys Penfold Hyland, Sydney c.1935; by whom donated to the Gallery 1964.
Media category
Painting
Collection area
British paintings

  • The rococo in art, craft and architecture is a period characterised by intense decoration and a softer and more whimsical approach to colour and form. This movement was primarily associated with continental Europe and France in particular. Gainsborough was often considered as characterising the English iteration of this flamboyant style, the English version embracing the soft informality in a more subdued manner than did its French counterparts. Gainsborough trained at William Hogarth’s famed 

    St Martin’s Lane Academy and by the second half of the eighteenth century had been recognised as a great portraitist, being commissioned for portraits by many members of the aristocracy and well-known personalities.

     

    Madame Franzisca Lebrun was a world-renowned soprano and composer who performed in London during 1779 and 1780, and it was at this time she sat for Gainsborough. This delightfully informal portrait shows Madame Lebrun in repose in Gainsborough’s studio, with minimal background detailing, allowing nothing to distract the viewer from the true subject. Gainsborough has depicted the delicate, gauzy fabric of the sitter’s gown with bold and painterly brushstrokes, capturing the essence of the fabric without the need to detail individual elements. Completed in the last decade of his life, Madame Lebrun epitomises Gainsborough’s masterly handling of paint and his ability to encapsulate the presence and vibrancy of his sitters.

     

    Tansy Curtin, Curator, International Art pre-1980

  • [Book] AGSA 500.