Minneapolis Institute of Art

Portrait of John Langston, Esquire, of Sarsden

Thomas Gainsborough

Date

1787

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

John Langston, Esquire, was a country gentleman in England of great standing. His dark suit with ruffled blouse and powdered wig are of-the-moment fashion. Langston is standing before an open window depicting a bucolic countryside, perhaps meant to represent his own land holdings in Sarsden. Thomas Gainsborough was one of the most talented and sought-after British portraitists of the 18th century. While he maintained that landscape painting was his first love, his numerous portraits of English nobility brought him great financial rewards. Europe

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