Thomas Gainsborough, 'The Painter's Daughters chasing a Butterfly', probably about 1756

The Painter's Daughters chasing a Butterfly

Thomas Gainsborough

Room 34

About the work

Overview

The two little girls in this unfinished portrait are Mary and Margaret, Gainsborough’s daughters by his wife, Margaret Burr, and their only children to survive infancy. Mary was baptised on 3 February 1750 and Margaret on 22 August 1751. Mary was given the name of the couple’s first daughter, who died at about 18 months old.

Margaret and Mary run hand-in-hand through dark woodland in pursuit of a cabbage white butterfly, which has landed momentarily on a tall thistle. Margaret reaches out her hand, while Mary clutches her looped-up muslin apron as a net. The children’s attempt to catch the elusive butterfly may be intended to suggest the fleeting nature of childhood, and the fragility of children’s lives. The wood in Gainsborough’s picture is dark and sombre.

This is probably the earliest of at least six double portraits that Gainsborough painted of his daughters between about 1756 and 1770.

In-depth

The two little girls in this unfinished portrait are Mary and Margaret, Gainsborough’s daughters by his wife Margaret Burr, and their only children to survive infancy. Both were born while Gainsborough was living and working in Sudbury in Suffolk, his own birthplace. Mary was baptised on 3 February 1750 and Margaret on 22 August 1751 – they were probably only 18 months apart in age.

Mary and Margaret are running hand-in-hand through a dark landscape in pursuit of a cabbage white butterfly, which has landed momentarily on a tall thistle. Margaret reaches out her hand for the butterfly, while Mary clutches her looped-up muslin apron like a net. The children’s attempt to catch the elusive butterfly may be intended to suggest the fleeting nature of childhood. The wood in Gainsborough’s picture is dark and sombre.

The Painter’s Daughters chasing a Butterfly is likely to have been painted in about 1756 while the family was living in Ipswich. Mary seems to be about six years old, and Margaret about four or five. The garden of the house Gainsborough rented adjoined that of a much larger house, occupied by his friend Revd Robert Hingeston, who was Master of Ipswich School. On 20 October 1759, before leaving Ipswich for Bath, Gainsborough put an advertisement in the local newspaper listing all of his household goods, some pictures and landscape drawings for sale. Unless this painting of his daughters was a gift from Gainsborough, it is likely that Hingeston bought the picture of the two little girls he must often have seen playing in their garden at this sale.

Before this portrait, Gainsborough had probably never tried painting two full-length and almost life-sized figures. His earlier figures portrayed in the open air such as Mr and Mrs Andrews are quite small in scale and somewhat doll like. His daughters by contrast are shown much larger and in bold, entirely natural attitudes. Painting his own children allowed Gainsborough the freedom to experiment with handling paint, which gives this portrait its remarkable spontaneity and freshness. The pinkish-brown ground is left clearly showing through Margaret’s dress, her apron and her outstretched foot, while thick streaks of white suggest the movement of the fabric in the sunlight. The girls' faces are highly finished, but elsewhere Gainsborough’s brushwork is loose and expressive.

Gainsborough is known to have painted six double portraits of his daughters, as well as separate portraits of each of them, between about 1756 and 1770. When Gainsborough painted the girls together he always showed them fondly holding hands, or protecting one another with an arm or half-embrace, as in The Painter’s Daughters with a Cat.

Gainsborough’s fifth double portrait of his daughters as students of drawing (Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts) reveals his hope they could be trained to draw well enough to earn money, but no work by either daughter is now known. After a brief unhappy marriage in 1780, Mary returned to her parents’ house. In later life she and Margaret, who never married, would live together. By this point Mary was suffering from severe mental illness.

Want to find out more?

Delve deeper and explore the catalogue entry for this painting.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Painter's Daughters chasing a Butterfly
Artist: Thomas Gainsborough
Artist dates: 1727 - 1788
Date made: probably about 1756
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 113.5 × 105 cm
Acquisition credit: Henry Vaughan Bequest, 1900
Inventory number: NG1811
Location: Room 34
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 20th-century Replica Frame

Provenance

Revd Robert Hingeston (1699–1766), Master of Ipswich School: unless given to him by Gainsborough, probably purchased at Gainsborough’s own sale before leaving Ipswich, 22–23 October 1759 (no cat.); then by descent through his son, Revd James Hingeston, Vicar of Reydon, near Southwold, Suffolk (d. 1777), to his grandson James Hingeston; Owen Roe, Ipswich, by 1856; Henry Vaughan, by 1871, by whom bequeathed to the National Gallery 1900.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Judy Egerton, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings’, London 2000; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2011

Family Matters: The Family in British Art

Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery

15 October 2011 - 8 January 2012

Millennium Gallery

2 February 2012 - 29 April 2012

Laing Art Gallery

19 May 2012 - 2 September 2012
2014

Making Colour

The National Gallery (London)

18 June 2014 - 7 September 2014
2018

Gainsborough's Family Album

National Portrait Gallery (London)

22 November 2018 - 3 February 2019
2023

Finding Family

The Foundling Museum

17 March 2023 - 27 August 2023

Bibliography

1856

G.W. Fulcher, Life of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., London 1856
1946

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: British School, London 1946
1946

M. Davies, Paintings and Drawings on the Backs of National Gallery Pictures, London 1946
1959

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: British School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1959
1961

M. Woodall (ed.), The Letters of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1961
1975

M. Levey, Gainsborough: The Painter's Daughters chasing a Butterfly (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 9 October - 23 November 1975), London 1975
1980

J.T. Hayes, Thomas Gainsborough (exh. cat. Tate Gallery, 8 October 1980 - 4 January 1981), London 1980
1981

M. Rosenthal and M. Myrone, Gainsborough, 1727-1788 (exh. cat. Tate Gallery, 7 October 1980 - 4 January 1981; Grand Palais, 6 February - 27 April 1981), Paris 1981
1982

J.T. Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough: A Critical Text and Catalogue Raisonné, Ithaca 1982
1983

J.T. Hayes and L. Stainton, Gainsborough Drawings, (exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1983), Washington 1983
1987

E. Einberg, Manners and Morals: Hogarth and British Painting 1700-1760 (exh. cat. Tate Gallery, 15 October 1987 - 3 January 1988), London 1987
1991

M. Cormack, The Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, Cambridge 1991
1991

National Gallery, 'Queen's Collection Double Portrait', National Gallery News, 1991
1991

D. Tyler, 'Thomas Gainsborough's Daughters', Gainsborough's House Society Annual Report, 1991, pp. 50-66
1992

D. Tyler, 'The Gainsborough Family: Births, Marriages and Deaths Reexamined', Gainsborough's House Review, 1992, pp. 27-32, 38-54
1992

D. Tyler, 'Thomas Gainsborough's Days in Hatton Garden', Gainsborough's House Review, 21, 1992, pp. 27-32
1995

J.C. Steward, The New Child: British Art and the Origins of Modern Childhood, 1730-1830 (exh. cat. University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, 23 August - 19 November 1995; Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 10 December 1995 - 4 February 1996; Joslyn Art Museum, 9 March - 5 May 1996), Berkeley 1995
1998

J. Egerton, The British School, London 1998
1998

J.T. Hayes, Thomas Gainsborough (exh. cat. Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara, 7 June - 30 August 1998), Ferrara 1998
1999

A. Asfour and P. Williamson, Gainsborough's Vision, Liverpool 1999
1999

National Gallery, Children in Art, London 1999
1999

M. Rosenthal, The Art of Thomas Gainsborough, Yale 1999
2000

Egerton, Judy, National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings, revised edn, London 2000
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2002

M. Postle, Thomas Gainsborough, London 2002
2002

S. Sloman, Gainsborough in Bath, New Haven 2002
2002

M. Rosenthal and M. Myrone, Gainsborough (exh. cat. Tate Britain, 24 October 2002- 19 January 2003; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 9 February - 11 May 2003; Museum of Fine Arts, 9 June - 14 September 2003), London 2002
2003

A. Graham-Dixon, In the Picture: The Year through Art, London 2003
2005

Holburne Museum of Art, Pictures of Innocence: Portraits of Children from Hogarth to Lawrence (exh. cat. Holburne Museum of Art, 22 March - 19 June 2005; Abbot Hall Gallery, 12 July - 8 October 2005), Bath 2005

Frame

This is probably a twentieth-century English replica frame made in the Rococo style. Carved from pinewood, it features stylised, pierced leaf corners and swept outlines that converge at the centre with intricate leaf and husk details. The hollow is adorned with an undercut continuous shell pattern. The sight edge is decorated with a French-style acanthus-leaf motif.

The frame was altered by Robert Sielle of London in 1935 to fit Gainsborough’s The Painter’s Daughters chasing a Butterfly. It was entirely regilded at the same time. Some silver is visible on the reverse of the corners, although it is unconfirmed whether this is original or a later addition.

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

Insights

Clara Davarpanah, one of our Gallery Educators, discusses Thomas Gainsborough's 'The Painter's Daughters Chasing a Butterfly' in this bite sized art history lecture.

This is a YouTube video player. Below the video are the title and the view time.

How Gainsborough captures the tension of childhood in 'The Painter's Daughters chasing a Butterfly'

View time: 7:19

You can't see this YouTube video because you haven't accepted marketing cookies. Please adjust your cookie preferences or watch the video on YouTube.

National Gallery Imaginarium

Spark your imagination in a virtual space to interact with our paintings.

More works by Thomas Gainsborough

(Showing 6 of 11 works)

Cornard Wood, near Sudbury, Suffolk

Thomas Gainsborough

Cornard Wood is on the outskirts of the village of Great Cornard, two miles from Sudbury, where Gainsborough was born. The view is taken from Abbas Hall, looking towards the village of Great Henny. The church of St Mary’s Great Henny appears in the background, our eyes led to it by the path windi...

Not on display

Dr Ralph Schomberg

Thomas Gainsborough

In 1759 Gainsborough moved to the fashionable spa town of Bath, where he established a very successful portrait-painting practice and remained for 15 years. He painted this portrait of Dr Ralph Schomberg, aged about 56, in Bath around 1770.Gainsborough consulted various doctors during his years i...

Room 34

John Plampin

Thomas Gainsborough

John Plampin is portrayed here aged about 25. The portrait was probably painted around five years before he inherited Chadacre Hall and the manor of Shimpling, Suffolk, in 1757. Gainsborough shows Plampin on Plampin land. The church tower in the background, though brushed in with only a few touch...

Not on display

Margaret Gainsborough holding a Theorbo

Thomas Gainsborough

This unfinished portrait of Thomas Gainsborough’s youngest daughter, Margaret (1751–1820), playing a theorbo (a kind of lute) unites two particularly personal aspects of the artist’s life and career: his deep affection for his family and friends, and their shared passion for music.The Gainsboroug...

Room 34

Mr and Mrs Andrews

Thomas Gainsborough

This portrait of Mr Robert (1725–1806) and Mrs Frances Andrews (about 1732–1780) is the masterpiece of Gainsborough’s early career. It has been described as a ‘triple portrait’ – of Robert Andrews, his wife and his land.Behind Mr and Mrs Andrews is a wide view looking south over the valley of the...

Room 34

Mr and Mrs William Hallett ('The Morning Walk')

Thomas Gainsborough

Gainsborough painted this portrait of William Hallett (1764–1842) and Elizabeth Stephen (1764–1833) shortly before their marriage on 30 July 1785. The couple are shown arm in arm on a morning walk with a Pomeranian sheepdog. The style of the portrait draws on the work of earlier painters Watteau...

Room 34

Mrs Siddons

Thomas Gainsborough

Mrs Siddons (1755–1831) was the greatest tragic actress of her time, remaining at the top of her profession for 30 years. Gainsborough painted her in the winter of 1784–5, during her third London season.Most of Mrs Siddons’s earlier portraits depict her in character, but Gainsborough portrayed he...

Room 34

Portrait of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter

Thomas Gainsborough

This is the earliest known self portrait in oil by Gainsborough, and the only known one of him with his family. He sits with his wife, Margaret, and the little rosy-cheeked girl is probably Mary, their short-lived first daughter. It is likely Gainsborough began it before Mary’s burial on 1 March...

Room 34

The Market Cart

Thomas Gainsborough

A horse-drawn cart trundles along a woodland path on the way to market. Two boys and their dog walk alongside its giant wheel, while two girls sit perched on top of the produce. Carrots spill out of a basket, and turnips, potatoes and cabbages are loosely piled in. The older girl raises one arm,...

Room 34

The Painter's Daughters with a Cat

Thomas Gainsborough

This portrait of Gainsborough’s daughters is likely to have been painted in Bath a year or so after the family moved there in late 1759. Mary appears to be about ten or eleven years old, and Margaret about eight or nine. Margaret leans her forehead back against her sister’s cheek as she holds the...

Room 34

The Watering Place

Thomas Gainsborough

A group of cattle and goats has been herded to drink in a stream or pool. Two country girls, a child and a man sit quietly on the sandy bank. The sun begins to sink behind the distant hills, casting a golden evening light over the peaceful woody landscape.Gainsborough’s painting is based on a dra...

Room 34

You've viewed 6 of 11 works