Thomas Gainsborough R.A. 1727 - 1788

Schomberg House, 1784 (as Mrs Crofts);
Winchester, 1935;
Museum of London, Lets Face It, 10th June - 28th September 1986;
On loan to the FitzWilliam Museum, Cambridge, 9th March - 5th July 1990;
On loan to Gainsborough's House, 1990-1998

W.T. Whiteley, Thomas Gainsborough, 1915, p.228;
E.K. Waterhouse, 'Preliminary Checklist of Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough', Walpole Society, 1953, Vol.XXXIII, p.25;
E.K. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, 1958, p.61

This elegant portrait dates from c.1783, a few years after the sitter's marriage, and is a fine example of the artist's mature late style.  Mrs Croft is depicted at the height of fashion, with a particularly striking hair style.

In 1774 Gainsborough had moved to 80 Pall Mall, the west wing of Schomberg House, named after the 3rd Duke of Schomberg who had rebuilt the house in 1698.  In 1769 John Astley obtained a lease of the building, which he divided into three, keeping the central house himself.  Gainsborough took a lease of the west wing, and whilst he hung pictures in the hall and stairs, he was obliged to build a painting room over the garden with a salon above to serve as a showroom.  In 1784 he finally broke with the Royal Academy, and in July held an inaugural exhibition at Schomberg House, where he could control such important matters as the height of the pictures and how they were lit.  In the first exhibition were ten full length portraits, twelve half or three-quarter lengths and a group of landscapes and subject pictures.  The present picture seems to be the portrait of 'Mrs Crofts' exhibited that year.

The sitter was the daughter and co-heiress of George Wanley Bowes of Thornton Hall, County Durham and Eyford, Gloucestershire, and his wife Anne, daughter of John Hutton of Marske.  On 28th August 1779, she married Robert Nicholas Croft, a member of an old established Yorkshire family which lived at Stillington Hall.  Robert Croft settled at Aldborough Hall and became Canon Residentiary of St Peter's Cathedral, York and Prebendary of Botevant.  Their three sons all followed their father into the church.  The eldest, James, became Archdeacon of Canterbury and married Charlotte, daughter of the Rev. Charles Manners Sutton, Archbishop of Canterbury.