Mrs John Kirby

Mrs John Kirby of around 1748, now at the Fitzwilliam Museum, depicts the wife of Joshua Kirby — architectural writer, teacher to George III's children, and one of Gainsborough's closest friends and most important early supporters. Kirby's two volumes on perspective in architecture, published in 1754 and 1761, were significant contributions to the literature of applied geometry and drawing, and his appointment as teacher of perspective to the Prince of Wales connected him to the royal household. Gainsborough's portrait of Mrs Kirby — painted before Kirby's major publications and royal appointment, when he was still primarily an Ipswich professional — shows the kind of personal, unconstrained observation he reserved for friends' wives and his own family. The Fitzwilliam Museum holds this alongside the Kirby family portraits that preserve an unusually complete record of Gainsborough's most important early personal connections. At 76.2 by 63.7 centimeters, the portrait's intimate scale reflects both the informal commission and the modest social standing of a professional family not yet elevated by the royal patronage that would follow; the handling is more personally direct than his formal commissioned portraits of the same period.

The portrait of a friend's wife is handled with the warmth and care that personal connections inspired in Gainsborough. The early handling is relatively precise and detailed, as was typical of his Suffolk period, but the face is painted with particular tenderness, reflecting genuine personal regard.