Thomas Gainsborough

Went to the Clark on Sunday and saw a selection of work from the recently donated Manton Collection; a nice collection of British work for this mostly French museum. The museum is exhibiting drawings and paintings by Constable (a bunch), Turner, Samuel Palmer (only one, but nice to see), Gainsborough, and others - only a part of the entire donation.

I've been into Gainsborough ever since reading Chris Ashley's EXCELLENT post on Gainsborough's brushtrokes... it was so good to see that, and think about that painting in relation to the Katherine Bernhardt painting posted on PaintersNYC, at about the same time.

These frames are fantastic... I was really enjoying the frames on this visit, because I was just talking about frames the other day (after seeing Zach Harris' show).


Thomas Gainsborough, Viscount Hampden, 1780 - This portrait is not in the Manton exhibition, it was already at the Clark, on display upstairs along with one other (an earlier one). This painting, if you ever get to the Clark, needs to be seen.

PLUS: for Barnaby. This is the giant Bouguereau that, for years and years, hung in the lobby... and is now moved upstairs, hanging near another Bouguereau.

I miss it in the lobby, which now has an expanded bookstore, with a pretty good (and welcome) selection, but looks horrible. Like a Barnes & Noble remainder table, plus coffee shop, times twenty. What happened? Is this temporary? That lobby looks like crap, it used to be so nice.