Thomas Gainsborough, an English landscape and portrait painter, born in Sudbury, Suffolk, early in 1727, died in London, Aug. 2, 1788. At a very early age he manifested a taste for drawing. About 1744 he was placed under the instruction of the engraver Gravelot and the painter Hayman, and soon began to paint landscapes and portraits. But his position did not improve until his marriage in 1746 with a young lady named Burr, of striking beauty and considerable fortune. He then resided successively in Ipswich and Bath, and in 1774 returned to London, where some portraits of members of the royal family at once gave him a name and ample employment. He passed the remainder of his life in London, where Sir Joshua Reynolds, his great rival and friend, had settled before him. In 1768 he was chosen one of the original 36 academicians, and from that time until 1784 he sent numerous pictures to the academy. As a landscape painter Gainsborough achieved the highest excellence, and was the first in England to show any real originality.

The "Life of Thomas Gainsborough," by George William Fuleher, appeared in London in 1856.