A woman sits on a grassy bank in front of a tree. She is very pale, with a serious expression. She wears a low-cut white dress with lace trim, a fichu across her breast, and blue ribbons on the bodice. Her hands are in her lap; one hand holds an object, too small to make out. On the right sits an alert fox dog with white fur. The background includes more trees and a cloudy sky.

Mrs Mary Robinson (Perdita)

Thomas Gainsborough

1781

Oil on canvas

76 x 63.2 cm

RCIN 400670

Image credit: Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021

A sketch by Thomas Gainsborough made in preparation for his full-length portrait of Mary 'Perdita' Robinson.

The full-length painting, also in this exhibition, was commissioned by George, Prince of Wales, in 1781. This sketch would have helped Gainsborough block out his composition. It is briskly executed - in places the paint barely covers the canvas - and, in particular, it is difficult to make out the miniature in Robinson's hand.

Nearly twenty years after the original affair, in 1797, George acquired this sketch from the estate sale of Gainsborough's nephew. He never displayed it but, equally, he never got rid of it - apparently retaining it as a memento.

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Mrs Mary Robinson (Perdita)

Thomas Gainsborough

1781

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