58 Some Notes on Gainsborough and his connection with Bradford. 



following — young men about town, assuming the function of art- 

 critics — strong minded ladies, with ample courage to pose in very 

 little or in any, even the most fantastic costume, who " soulfully 

 intense," converse in words and phrases too " unutterably utter ■'■' to 

 describe ; and last, although not the least important, the newly- 

 created professors of the nineteenth century — the art decorators. 



Early in life Gainsborough manifested a genius for drawing, and 

 of him, as of many other precocious painters, well-known anecdotes 

 are current. Perhaps the most characteristic, and the only one I 

 need repeat, is connected with his school-life, showing, that his love 

 of Nature at an early age was stronger than his revei'ence for truth. 

 When a boy he loved to sketch from Nature, and one bright morning 

 his anxiety to go sketching tempted him to forge a note from his 

 father, in the customary form, to his school-master, " Please give 

 Tom a holiday." The request was granted, and young Gainsborough, 

 rejoicing in the glorious sunshine, fled to the fields and lanes with 

 his drawing-book, but, on returning, found that his father having 

 required his services at home had sent for him, when the forgery 

 was detected. His father angrily exclaimed, " Tom will one day 

 be hanged," but no sooner had his mother exhibited the clever 

 sketches of her truant son than old Gainsborough, with mollified 

 tone, declared that " Tom would one day be a genius." 



In his fifteenth year he was sent to London, and we learn from 

 his biographer, in the Gentleman^'s Magazine, that he received in- 

 structions from Gravelot, the engraver, who procured his admission 

 to the academy in St. Martin's Lane. He afterwards studied under 

 Hayman, and at the end of three years ventured upon a studio for 

 himself, in Hatton Garden, where he painted landscapes and portraits 

 for the dealers. The deplorable state of art in the schools at that 

 period exercised its pernicious influence upon him, and his earliest 

 works showed little genius or skill. Fortunately for his future 

 reputation the London studio was not a success. After twelve 

 months' trial he returned to his native county, and for fifteen years 

 carefully, conscientiously, and devotedly, studied Nature amid the 

 pleasant scenery of SuSblk, under every possible variety of aspect ; 

 realising a moderate income without gaining more than a provincial 



