0181 Mr and Mrs Andrews Seated In Their Estate
‘Here, ladies and gentlemen – would you
stand back a little so that everyone can see? –
are Mr Robert Andrews of Sudbury, Suffolk, and
his wife Frances, painted by that
enchanting painter Thomas Gainsborough
around 1748 to 1749… they chose
the right man for the job: here are the rolling miles
of this royal throne of kings, this
sceptred island, this jewel set
in a silver sea, this earth, this realm, this –
England – which they have the impertinence
of the nouveau riche to think they own – note,
in contrast to Gainsborough’s customary lovely touch,
how awkwardly they pose – is this the
first black cloud that presages the fall
of ancien regimes? The first comment
on social class in England’s much-delayed
Enlightenment? The socialist critic Peter Berger
says of this revealing document in paint…’
etc.