
Public Domain
Thomas Gainsborough completed this informal double portrait of Sarah and John Joshua Kirby around 1751–1752, shortly after returning to his native Suffolk. The couple appears in a rural landscape with their dog, though X-rays reveal Gainsborough originally planned a grander French-style composition with a classical sculpture behind Kirby.
Gainsborough had moved back to Ipswich in 1748 after failing to establish himself in London. Life in Suffolk proved equally difficult financially. He relied on local professional people for portrait commissions. Joshua Kirby became one of his most important early patrons, and this commission likely cemented their lifelong friendship.
Kirby was a man of many talents. He authored an early illustrated book on Suffolk and wrote a well-known treatise on perspective. He also ran a general painting business where Gainsborough may have assisted. Later, Kirby taught perspective to the future King George III, who appointed him Clerk of the Works at Kew.
The two men remained close until death. In his final weeks, Gainsborough gave instructions to be buried next to Kirby in Kew churchyard. The National Portrait Gallery in London acquired this portrait in 1905. It is currently on long-term loan to Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire.

John Constable
National Portrait Gallery, London, London

Dante Gabriel Rossetti
National Portrait Gallery, London, London

Joshua Reynolds
National Portrait Gallery, London, London

Dante Gabriel Rossetti
National Portrait Gallery, London, London
Other masterpieces from the Rococo movement

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1767
Wallace Collection, London

Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1717
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Joshua Reynolds, 1776
National Gallery, London

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1770
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

François Boucher, 1752
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1719
Louvre, Paris, Paris

François Boucher, 1742
Louvre, Paris, Paris

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1782
National Gallery, London
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection