Описание картины "Rober Andrews and Mary His Wife"
методическая разработка (10 класс) по теме

"Robert Andrews and Mary, His Wife" (1750) by T. Gainsborough

I'd like to describe the picture "Robert Andrews and Mary, His Wife" by T. Gainsborough. First of all I'd like to say a few words about the painter. He is a self-taught and famous portrait painter of the 18th century who developed his own style of painting and who was in advance of his time. He painted from nature, memory and imagination. He specialized mainly in portraiture.
This picture is an oil-painting. It is a full-length portrait of a husband and a  wife. The picture is arranged asymmetrically. The painter divided this picture space diagonally.  
In the foreground, in the left-hand corner of the picture we can see a couple. The painter doesn't define the nearer figures more sharply than the landscape and doesn't emphasize contours purposely so the sitters blend with the landscape and merge into a single entity with it. The woman is represented sitting on a bench under a tree and the man is represented standing next to her. The sitters' clothes indicate to some extent their position in the society - maybe to the middle-class or to the upper-class. Though I believe that such elaborate clothes with white hoses in the 18th century can be bought only by the representatives of the upper class. There's also a special dog for hunting standing near the man, it's obvious that it belong to the family because it looks devotedly at the man and it also proves the fact that they are the representatives of the upper class. In the right-hand corner in the foreground we can see a path with a sheaf of wheat lying on it.
As I have already said Gainsborough places the figures against the landscape background. It's important to mention the fact that the painter broke with the tradition and used English country, because there's side for the background instead of traditional, Italian background. In the background we can see trees, a pasture with sheep or cows grazing on it, hills - it's a typical English landscape. Some elements of the landscape are scarcely discernible. The sky which is also in the background is cloudy, with thick leaden clouds - though the delicacy of tones may be lost in the reproduction -  but it also looks as calm as the landscape.
The picture is painted in soft and delicate colours though the delicacy of brilliant tones may be lost in reproduction. Everything is muted in colour. Gainsborough managed to combine form and colour into harmonious unity. He used the colour scheme where green, blue and yellow predominate instead of traditional red, brown and black colours. So I can say that this picture doesn't conform to the taste of the period.
I think that this picture is lyrical and poetic in tone and atmosphere. The painter managed to convey a sense of space. The picture is distinguished by a marvelous sense of colour and composition and that makes it an exquisite piece of painting and an unsurpassed masterpiece