Thomas Gainsborough is one of the greatest English masters of landscape and portraiture, and also one of the most versatile. Born in Sudbury, Suffolk, in a clothier's family, he displayed artistic talent at an early age. In 1740 he went to London to study art spending several years working in the studios of different artists, including Hubert Gravelot, a draughtsman and engraver (and pupil of the great Flemish Rococo painter, Antoine Watteau), and the historical scene-painter and illustrator Francis Hayman.

Later he was also influenced by the painters of the Dutch school and the Flemish painters Sir Anthony van Dyck and Sir Peter Paul Rubens. From 1745 to 1760 Gainsborough lived and worked in Ipswich, before moving to Bath in 1760. In 1768 he was elected a founder member of the Royal Academy of Arts. In 1774 he moved to London and by royal invitation, painted portraits of King George III and the queen consort, Charlotte Sophia.

He moved in musical and theatrical circles, painting many musicians and actors. He was a warm-hearted, generous man, with an informed and inquiring mind, becoming the favourite painter of the British aristocracy, and wealthy through his many commissions for portraits. He died in London in August 1788.

Gainsborough executed over 500 paintings, of which nearly half are portraits. His main love was for landscapes, and he combined his keen interest in landscapes with his portraits, which were frequently set against a landscaped background, e.g. his Mr and Mrs Andrews (1748). His landscapes are largely imaginative and idealized scenes. He often drew from memory, drawing by candlelight from little model landscapes he made in his studio. His portraits combine the elegance of Van Dyck with his own characteristic informality. There are such early masterpieces as Mary, Countess Howe (about 1763-4), The Blue Boy (1770), and the landscape The Harvest Wagon (1767).

       To the last great period of his life belong such masterpieces as The Hon. Mrs. Thomas Graham (exhibited R.A. 1777), William Hallett and His Wife ("The Morning Walk") (1785), Mrs. Sarah Siddons (1785), The Watering Place (1777), The Cottage Door (1780), and Mountain Landscape with Peasants Crossing a Bridge (1784).

One of Gainsborough's most famous works makes an appearance in the James Bond film "Die Another Day". Lyons Corner House were commissioned to paint "The Blue Boy" for the film which opened in November 2002.