Giovanna Baccelli

Giovanna Baccelli, painted in 1782 and held at Tate, depicts the celebrated Italian ballerina who was principal dancer at King's Theatre in London and the mistress of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset. Baccelli (c.1753-1801) was celebrated across Europe for her technical brilliance and expressive power as a dancer, and the portrait captures her in an unusually dynamic pose — her body mid-movement, skirts animated by dance rather than by the wind that moves Gainsborough's landscape figures — that has no precedent in his portrait practice. The full-length horizontal format (148.6 × 226.7 cm) places Baccelli in a landscape setting in a way that blurs the boundary between dance and outdoor movement, giving the portrait the quality of a theatrical scene observed in nature. Gainsborough's willingness to depart so dramatically from portrait convention — depicting an actress and dancer in movement — reflects both his friendship with theatrical culture and the freer atmosphere of the late London period when his portrait practice had evolved beyond the formal conventions of Bath.

Gainsborough captures the dancer's graceful pose with fluid, energetic brushwork, using a light palette that conveys the airiness of dance. The atmospheric landscape background and the shimmering costume demonstrate his ability to render movement and vitality.