Why set a portrait in a landscape or a landscape in a portrait? a comparative analysis of the functions of landscape in ’s Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (c 1750) and Cornelia Parker’s Landscape with Gun and Tree (2010)

NICOLA CATTERALL Consideration of the 2010 sculpture that clearly references the 1750 painting, selecting and exaggerating just a few of the painting’s elements, draws attention to compositional, symbolic, biographical and contextual aspects of the earlier painting. As a site-specific structure, Parker’s work is framed in and by the landscape it inhabits, causing us to consider anew the specificity of Gainsborough’s setting and the Figure 1. Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, c. 1750, The , . holistic composition of the painting. This comparison helps to both ground the painting in the social, political and geographical world of its sitters, and reveal the controlling hand of the artist. The symbolic nature of the gun and tree in Mr. and Mrs. Andrews is highlighted by Parker’s work, and the lack of explicit sitters questions the nature of portraiture, allowing us to probe the boundary between landscape and to uncover the particular enhancing effect of combining them. NICOLA CATTERALL / VIDES families, the Andrews andthe Carters. commercially successful two of 1748 than simplytocelebrate the unionin fertile agriculturalrather land, of inheritance of large swathes in 1750 commissioned tocommemorate their local newly-weds (Fig.1) waslikely marriage portraitof this years old, Thomas when Gainsborough was, at most, 23 in Painted isl bt tugig financially. struggling but himself Discourse XIV, p.254. 6Sir JoshuaReynolds, sation pieces|Glossary National Gallery,London,[Accessed20December2020].) 5 NationalGallery, Conver - Thomas Gainsborough|MrandMrsAndrewsNG6301NationalGallery, London, 4 Vaughan, 3 WilliamVaughan, 2 JamesHamilton, 1 Bulmer&DistrictHistoryGroup,RobertAndrews bulmerhistory.co.uk, [Accessed20December2020]. idealized landscapes, and is unusual in his later,moreformulaic,portraitsor in lacking observation acuityof and his than Yetithasadirectness later work. confident, less painterly, less is and work early his of stiffness of sketches his family.the Thispainting shows oil unfinished the like as anearly experimental picture, this rank might by Gainsborough, untitled andnever originally exhibited unfinished lap isunpainted), was (Mrs. Andrews’ is painting the that fact for which he became famous. The landscapes and romantic portraits to paintthefashionable London He Bath was yetandthen move to to of hisfather. aLondon the death apprenticeship, following after Suffolk to returned had recently and Robert Andrews with had beenat school Gainsborough Gainsborough, p.56. 2 (London: Weidenfeld &Nicolson,2017)Chapter13. Gainsborough, APortrait(London:Weidenfeld He was newly married (London: Thames & Hudson, 2002)p.23. Gainsborough (London:Thames&Hudson, The Discourses ofSirJoshuaReynolds , ed.byJ.Burnet,(London: JohnCarpenter,1842) 3 1

179 and regular practice to art.’ belonging the usual others ‘learned from had not lamented thatGainsborough Reynolds portraiture over . portraiture and over painting history the artisticsuperiorityof promoted who Reynolds, contemporary, Joshua his the art-historicalintellectualismof paying the day any credence nor of to the fashion neither tailoredto own, his style wasvery Gainsborough’s much Hogarth. Atthisstage of hiscareer, as the witof sensuousness, aswell and FrenchRocococolour dark naturalismofDutch landscapes the of by, anunusualcombination influenced and with, familiar was but travelled Gainsborough had not abroad creating an“unexpected harmony.” landscape with portraiture, combining Unknown during hislifetimeand Unknown sumptuous, portraiturepractice. commercially lucrative, visually a more his life,alongside throughout landscape painting his passionfor Unheeded, indulged Gainsborough piece’. an eighteenth-century ‘conversation and as their land, sitters and to the two the classifies as a‘triple portrait’,referringto work Gallery National The 5 6 4

Wilsons commissioned CorneliaParker Wilsons contemporary sculpture park. The a of the form designed landscape,in and returned their to a grounds and estate, have restored thehouse House, a neo-Jacobean mansion Bonnington of since 2001 owners wealthy Nicky andRobertWilson, (2010) (Fig.2). Parker’s it hasinspired,Cornelia many works the comparison withoneof through approaches this painting an analysisof worthy of close analysis. close of worthy remains influential and relevant today, therefore and above convention popularity’ because it setsobservation nevertheless ‘survived itsdestructive chocolate-box cliché,the painting has 12 Parker,TheGenerous Landscape, p.122. tion, 2018)p.120. 11 CorneliaParker,TheGenerousLandscape:Ten YearsofJupiterArtland(Edinburgh: Founda 10 AMoonLanding,afirework displayinspiredbyWhistler’s Essay |Tate[Accessed19 January 2021].JohnBerger, p.103. WilliamVaughan,‘Gainsborough’s Modernity’, 9 KennethClark,withanintroductionbyGompertz, W.,LandscapeintoArt(London:FolioSociety,2013) to -GettyImages[Accessed20December2020]. News Pho- March Gainsborough... 23rd, 1960. Record $130,000 For Sold Audience at Art Auction,Gainsborough Wikipedia, MrandMrsAndrews-[Accessed 20December2020].Gettyimages, 8 Itwastouredorexhibitedover16timesby1958, in theUK,EuropeandAmerica,Mr.Mrs.Andrews, Exhibited attheGainsboroughBicentenaryMemorial Exhibition,IpswichMuseum,5November1927 7 SirWalterArmstrong, Andrews, in1927. when first exhibited by descendants of paintings, becomingfamousovernight recognized most Gainsborough’s of 1904, unrecorded except for onementionin sum of $130,000. sum of by the National Gallery, for a record in thepaintingbeingbought1960 over thenextthree decades culminated Mr. andMrs.Andrewsisnowone Landscape withGunandTree 8 7 Gainsborough andhisplaceinEnglishArt(London:WilliamHeinemann,1904)p.257. Accused of being a Accusedof Excessive exposure 9 This essay This 180 Ways ofSeeing(London:Penguin,1972) p.107. Tate Magazine,Issue1,Gainsborough’smodernity – her perception of their personal her perceptionof both her sitters, of by knowledge Parker’s responsewasinformed commission, Like Gainsborough’s and landscape. biography andgeography,portraiture the of work andexploretheroles original to“read” us helps differences), (boththe oil painting similarities and eighteenth-century Gainsborough’s with sculpture century twenty-first against a tree.’ against as ifleaning steel versionthatstands a nine-metre tall castironandCorten the couple, scaling up Robert’sgun…to and tree in the painting andremove painting…I decided the gun to focuson Gainsborough’s that in reminiscent of them… thelandscape was portrait of of make akind inspired to she ‘felt time in residence with the Wilsons, event (2009) withapubliccommemorative to mark the opening ofJupiter Artland Chelsea artschools. taught Nicky at Camberwell and her, having couple commissioning Parker Like Gainsborough, knew the a permanent work. for commission Nocturne inBlackandGold,the Falling Rocket. 10 , following up in 2010 with a up in2010 , following 12 Comparison of this of Comparison 11 After spending After Auctioneers and

- WHY SET A PORTRAIT IN A LANDSCAPE A IN PORTRAIT A SET WHY WHY SET A PORTRAIT IN A LANDSCAPE

17 19 The land 16 Gainsborough’s Andrews, on Gainsborough’s Andrews, 18 Not overtly “menacing”, Mr Andrews’ Mr “menacing”, Not overtly pose is more subtle. On the face of it, On the subtle. pose is more power casual Gainsborough signals the with the does entitled man, as he of an whilst of Andrews’ estate, depiction little mockery. room for a leaving compositionParker’s also draws our is depicted expressively as fertile (reaped as fertile expressively is depicted of cultivation manner the corn) while of the cornfields shows Andrews to be of farming practice. vanguard in the Here is the promise of prosperity from of prosperity promise is the Here united estates. This the couple’s is land. Like owned managed, enclosed, Parker, he flags intervention and order countryside. natural than wild, rather attention to draws Parker Additionally, cocked of a violence ‘the brooding latent an absent- “by shotgun” as if left and describes minded gamekeeper’ of the in terms work as ‘menacing’ her and poacher it poses to wild beast threat alike. the other hand, holds his shotgun in a hand, holds his shotgun other the position. assured, naturalistic, yet more would audience An eighteenth-century cost known that a shot-gun license have settled income annual £100, half of the the and that on Gainsborough’s wife, deportation. for poaching was penalty 20 Gainsborough ‘paints the Andrews/ ‘paints Gainsborough in its entirety.’ ecology Carter 182182 Like 15 The Wilsons The Wilsons and 13 The search for Gainsborough (London: Jonathan Cape, 1984) p. 168. The art of Thomas Gainsborough, p. 18. In doing so, Gainsborough 14 Ways of Seeing, p. 107. emphasises the sense of as a emphasises place valuable commodity, deploying his skills landscape-painting to project the landowners’ status and power. the will One biographer, by studying all that realised of Andrews’ father, of Gainsborough’s Suffolktight circles, and moved in the same patrons ‘the two young people in the cornfield gained a new significance; they were powerful and controlledothers.’ the Andrews the Andrews notare titled gentry, but rich through successful trading, and cloth, in remedies natural health Gainsborough positions respectively. his couple clearly within their specific masters if as Auberies, at lands Suffolk of all around them, yet showing more than is topographically visible from the spot. 13 Berger, 14 James Hamilton, Gainsborough, A Portrait (London: Weidenfeld 14 & Nicolson, 2017) Chapter 15 Adrienne Corri, 16 Hamilton, Gainsborough, A Portrait, Chapter 14. (New Haven: Yale University 17 Michael Rosenthal, The art of Thomas Gainsborough: a little business for the eye Press, 1999) p. 17. 18 Cornelia Parker, Jupiter Artland, (Edinburgh: Jupiter Artland Foundation, 2011) p. 49. 19 Rosenthal, 20 Fulcher, G.W., Life of Thomas Gainsborough, 2nd edn (London: Royal Academy, 1856) p. 30. relationship and of their power and power their and of relationship as landowners. status As well as the references she explicitly painting, 1927, since currency its cultural John the Marxist particularly Berger’s insistence on Mr. and Mrs. Andrews’ towards what attitude ‘proprietary surrounds them.’ Berger, human geographers have made geographers have human Berger, much of the depiction of the land as and a symbol property, of capitalist this is a convincing interpretation. 181 Edinburgh. , 2010, Jupiter Artland, Figure 2. Cornelia Parker, Landscape with Gun and Tree attention to the presence in the painting landscape to reflect his impression of of the oak tree, still growing in that spot the feelings of the sitters. As Jonathan today, a symbol of longevity for a newly Jones observes, ‘some of his most rich couple establishing their own revealingly emotional uses of nature legacy and lineage. In Parker’s work, are in paintings of his own family.’22 the oak also stands in for Mrs. Wilson, and its relationship to the oversized Parker’s use of stand-ins for her couple gun (a proxy for Mr. Wilson) is one of also draws attention to Gainsborough’s gentle touching, yet independence; use of artifice in the way he poses each is structurally self-supporting and dresses his sitters, drawing our and would survive the loss of the attention to the fact that the viewer is other.21 Looking afresh at the proximity being manipulated, thereby alerting of Gainsborough’s couple, there is a our critical eye. The figures appear physical distance between them which doll-like (indeed it is claimed that would have been a normal composition Gainsborough used small marionettes, for the time, but there is a suggestion, a ‘conscious artifice’, to help compose NICOLA CATTERALL / VIDES in their poses and expressions, of an his paintings).23 This apparent naivety emotional distance and little warmth. throws up insights. Another Suffolk Gainsborough’s is perhaps a more portrait, of Mrs. Andrew’s parents, edgy commentary on their arranged Mr. and Mrs. Carter (Fig. 4), is of a marriage, with the hint of a less similar date, and here the discrepancy sympathetic, less friendly attitude of in size between the figures may well the artist towards his more prosperous be intended to be comical.24 As many sitters. Again, the landscape is utilized, have commented since his friend Philip this time to evoke mood. The dark clouds Thicknesse first observed it, there is a in the sky are an unlikely inclusion in definite “stiffness” in Gainsborough’s a studio-painted marriage portrait, early figures.25 But the effect in the surely signaling difficulties ahead. As Andrews portrait is successful – in Gainsborough’s melancholy Portrait unsettling, psychologically ‘edgy’, of the Artist with his Wife and Daughter conveying a certain ‘hauteur’ and of 1748 (Fig. 3), painted soon after the overall giving the impression of death of their first child, he deliberately something pretentious and sham. 26 paints the colours and mood of the Robert Andrews’ clothes are not what

21 Jupiter Artland, The Generous Landscape: Ten Years of Jupiter Artland, Edinburgh, Jupiter Artland Foundation, 2018, p.122.! Figure 3. (above) Thomas Gainsborough, Portrait of The Artist with his Wife and 22 Jonathan Jones, ‘Thomas Gainsborough: A Modern Genius’, The Guardian, 19 October 2002, Thomas Daughter, c.1748, 92.1 x 70.5 cm, oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London, Photo Gainsborough: The hidden story | Art and design | The Guardian . [Accessed 20 December 2020] credit: The National Gallery. 23 Keith Roberts, ‘Gainsborough’, The Masters (Bristol: Purnell and Sons, 1966), no. 34, p.4. 24 Tate, “Mr. & Mrs . Carter”, Art and Artists, ‘Mr and Mrs Carter’, Thomas Gainsborough, c.1747–81,Tate, Figure 4. (below) Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. Carter, c.1747-8, 91.2 x 71.0 [Accessed 29 January 2021]. cm, oil on canvas, , London, Photo credit: Tate. 25 Roberts, ‘Gainsborough’, The Masters (Bristol: Purnell and Sons, 1966) no. 34, p.5. 26 Jones, ‘Thomas Gainsborough: A Modern Genius’.

183 184 was worn in the countryside and perhaps a satirical, mocking undercurrent. not quite the height of fashion.27 His Gainsborough lets the figures reveal wrinkled stockings and slouchy powder self-aggrandisement, rather than pouch are unkempt and unflattering. pumping them up with classical Parker’s giant, erect and cocked props. And the inclusion of penned- shotgun exaggerates and subverts in donkeys in the middle-ground can 30

the obvious phallic symbolism of the be interpreted uncharitably too. WHY SET A PORTRAIT IN LANDSCAPE gun in the painting. Gainsborough’s Gainsborough’s knowing, rather sexual inuendo, through the husband’s gloomy reflection on the personal downturned shotgun and flaccid prospects of a marriage is picked up powder bag, coupled with his wife’s on by another contemporary artist, sly expression, is one of a lifestyle David Hockney. In his 1971 double and libido curtailed by a dominant portrait of close friends, Mr. and Mrs. wife. Parker described her own work Clark and Percy (Fig. 6), Hockney as ‘naughty’ in the context of implied reverses the position of the sitters, but sexual frisson, and the same adjective echoes the composition and trapped, is used by Sister Wendy to describe melancholic mood of Gainsborough’s the absence of sexual prowess implied Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, with the cat Percy in Gainsborough’s painting. 28 Much as the phallic symbol, portending has been made of what Gainsborough infidelity. Clearly Gainsborough’s intended to paint in the unfinished painting is more than mimesis, both lap of Mrs. Andrews (Fig. 5). The space in terms of his transparently satirical, may have been left unpainted, pending almost Hogarthian, unsympathetic later inclusion of a baby, but the depiction of the couple, and in the sketchy outline that is visible suggests artful rearrangement of nature in a dead cock-pheasant. The shape his landscape, ‘redolent of Suffolk’ is undoubtedly phallic, prompting and ‘evocative of place,’ but not Gainsborough’s latest biographer to descriptively accurate. 31 liken it to a “drawing of a penis on Comparing the overall composition her” and conclude that the painting’s of the two works helps identify incompleteness signals a falling out additional meanings implied by the with his patron.29 This reading is landscape elements in the portraits. Figure 5. (above) Detail, Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews, c.1750, oil on consistent with an interpretation of The fabrication and engineering canvas, The National Gallery, London, Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Figure 6. (below) David Hockney, Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, 1971, 213.4 x 304.8 27 Rosenthal, The art of Thomas Gainsborough, p.17. cm, acrylic on canvas, Tate Britain, London, © David Hockney, Photo credit: Tate, 28 Alastair Sooke, ‘Hay 2013: Artist Cornelia Parker on five works and the pieces that inspired them’, The ‘Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy’, David Hockney, 1970–1 | Tate Telegraph, 24 May 2013. Sister Wendy on “Naughty” Gainsborough - YouTube [Accessed 29 January 2021]. 29 James Hamilton, Gainsborough A Portrait (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2017), Chapter 14 30 Cadogan Tate, Gainsborough: Hidden symbols and scandalous nature, 10 October 2017, Gainsborough: Hidden symbols and scandalous nature | Cadogan Tate [Accessed 20 December 2020]. 31 Vaughan, ‘Gainsborough’s Modernity’. Hamilton, Gainsborough, A Portrait, Chapter 13. Christine Riding, National Gallery, “One painting, many voices”, Thomas Gainsborough | Mr and Mrs Andrews | NG6301 | Na- tional Gallery, London [Accessed 29 January 2021].

185 186 required to place a self-supporting the use of white and light blue paint nine-metre replica shotgun against a especially, as cool colours recede into tree on the Wilson’s estate, draws our the picture and create the illusion of attention to the choice of the exact insubstantiality, as well as echoing location and prompts questions about the colours of the sky. Parker’s its relationship to the park as a whole, two verticals are clearly well- the house and the other sculptures. The balanced, drawing the eye upwards verticality of Landscape with Tree and to slice through the horizontal Gun naturally prompts photographs of landscape, prompting scrutiny of the structure in portrait format, as in how Gainsborough balanced his Fig.2 and almost all of the authorized composition. The scale of the couple illustrations. Yet its relationship to the and their positioning, to the far left whole estate, in its positioning to the of the painting, marginalizes them left side of a large horizontal panorama and maximizes the amount of canvas turns it into landscape format (Fig.7, devoted to the scenery. The couple a site map showing relative scale and the view are both important, the NICOLA CATTERALL / VIDES and marked position of the work, canvas ‘composed so as to question foregrounded, to the left). Similarly, at the relationship of figure and 119.4 cm wide × 69.8 cm tall, the layout landscape. He shoves his subjects to of Gainsborough’s painting ensures we the side.’32 Unlike Reynolds and other approach the portrait as a landscape. contemporary portrait painters, A horizontal two-dimensional format Gainsborough painted the entire requires verticals, and perspective, to canvas himself rather than focusing successfully evoke the setting. Like on the face and employing assistants Parker, Gainsborough ignores the to paint the rest.33 He approached more conventional use of architecture, portraiture holistically, paying as such as the owners’ country house, much attention here to the setting achieving verticals in the composition and clothing (and, in later works, to using the oak tree instead. Sharp the painting of sumptuous fabrics) detail of the near objects, including as to faces, to the extent that his the corn sheaf, contrasts with the later portraits are more successful as sketchy mosaic of viewpoints in the paintings than as specific likenesses. background. Crowded foregrounding Figure 7. Iain McIntosh, A Map of Jupiter Artland, 2016, 30.0 x 42.0 cm, print on of the detailed couple, bench, dog By the 1780s, Gainsborough’s paper, Jupiter Artland Foundation, Edinburgh, © Iain McIntosh, Photo by the author. and props helps achieve perspective, abstraction of commissions into stylized but is cleverly prevented from being conversation pieces is epitomized in the Figure 8. Thomas Gainsborough, Mr. & Mrs. Hallett (“The Morning Walk”), 1785, too overpowering by the use of light- marriage portrait Mr. and Mrs. Hallett, 236.2 x 179.1 cm, oil on canvas, The National Gallery, Photo credit: The National coloured clothing. This is achieved by which was renamed The Morning Walk Gallery.

32 Jones, ‘Thomas Gainsborough: A Modern Genius’. 33 Roberts, ‘Gainsborough’, The Masters, no. 34, p. 6.

187 188 NICOLA CATTERALL / VIDES nod to Gainsborough’s other titles.” other Gainsborough’s to nod Landscape withGunandTree , asuitable it renamed I installation, finished the piece “I hadtoyedwiththe the idea calling of generalizing reflected in her own work: 37 36-45. General View’, TheBurlingtonFeb.1941,pp. Painting: A 455, Rothenstein, ‘British 78, no. John , vol. Magazine 36 WalterArmstrong, tion 2018),p.122. 35 JupiterArtland, 2019, https://youtube[Accessed20December2020]. 34 ChristineRiding,‘Gainsborough’sMorningWalk’, (Fig.8) to reflect this. Andrews andhisWife. the painting press articlelabels Andrewes, portraits as catalogue of his it in lists 1904 in biographer Gainsborough’s ownership, inthefamily’s Whilst still privately over mantel. a neighbour’s hang to early commissioned painting, originally untitled. It was an unfinished as in the portrait. What we now know well astheimportancethe landscape of the wider relevance of her piece, as flagging is she title, the choosing In earlier, more sitter-specific portrait. In this of preserving thedistinctiveness rename it, been temptedto has not later by the National Gallery. by theNational house was likelyattributed bytheauction 2021] 40 RoyMilitaryMap,National LibraryofScotland,www.jupiterartland.org/landscape/ [Accessed7January ham: Gainsborough’sHouse Society,2008),p.10. Gainsborough, catalogue for exhibition of 14 June – 20 Sept. 2008 at Gainsborough’s House, Suffolk,(Laven Bellany 39 and Thomas Gainsborough:ThePainters Diane Converse’, JohnBellanyandThomas Perkins, ‘John cessed 20December2020]. [Ac- Gallery, London National NG6301 | | Andrews Mrs Mr and | Gallery, ThomasGainsborough 38 National 1960. Gainsborough...NewsPhoto-GettyImages[Accessed 20December2020]. Gettyimages, was probably Mr. andMrs.Andrews , but on seeing Mr. and Mrs. Wilson,buton Mr. andMrs.Hallett,theGallery 37 prior to its acquisition in 1960 acquisitionits to prior and a 1941 and Mr. andMrs.R. , Gainsborough Sold For Record $130,000 March 23rd, Record $130,000 For Sold Auctioneers andAudienceatArtAuction,Gainsborough The GenerousLandscape:TenYearsofJupiterArtland,(Edinburgh:Founda Gainsborough andhisplaceinEnglishArt(London:WilliamHeinemann,1904),p.257. 36 34 The currenttitle Parker saw this 38 Unlike the Unlike Robert 35

189 Talks forAll(onlinevideo),NationalGalleryLondon, rather than Suffolk farmland.) Suffolk than villages rather fishing (Scottish childhood his the landscapeof evocation of particularly in thenon-topographical Bellany, John artist figurative modern by Gainsborough’s early style, exemplified painting. creating asuccessfulholistic underlines biographicalelements, portrait, withinalandscapethat this case, the painting isaninsightful House, around Bonnington hunting grounds landscape withextensive a formal of sketches by 1750 Informed Artland. within theirowncreation, Jupiter them commemorates and objectifies and itsowners and biographicallyof is set,asitspeaks geographically the scenery in whichthe“portrait” for a broaderrole in hertitlespeaksto landscape. Parker’s use of “landscape” portrait and of biographical integration the in the resonance understands Parker and Gainsborough, Bellany them, perhaps a modern equivalent carefully curated sculpture park around house andha-ha. They are creating a Mr. andMrs.Andrews,alsoinspired the 40 the Wilsons have restored the theWilsons 39 Like - - Strawberry Hill House. such asHorace Walpole at collector, aconnoisseur of century tradition in theeighteenth- Sparta, butalso Finlay’s Hamilton Ian manner of also challenges the classification of landscape, as eitherportraitor artworks classification the challenges also by theseartists setting useof skilful work ofart’ ‘total self-identify ascreatinga single, The Wilsons fertile arable farmland. Andrews-like reclaim surrounding a Capabilityto Browngarden,asthey 47 NicholasThomas, 46 Vaughan, Scotland, 2011)p.96. 45 DuncanThomson, and Scotland-Bingvideo [Accessed:19January2021]. 44 Charlotte Topsfield, p. 263. 43 Amy Dempsey, Haven: YaleUniversityPress,1993),p.20. 42 MarciaPointon,HangingtheHead:Portraiture andSocialFormationinEighteenth-Century England,(New dation, 2018),p.26. 41 LudmillaJordanova, estate (Fig.9). Scott’s on at afavouriteviewpoint stick propped againstastool, walking a death, showing friend’s after his a soon ‘poignant memorial to Scott’ Turner painted the sitter. when evoking The absence the subject new, of is not portraiture. of definition straitjacket us tochallengeandextendany in in Parker’ssculptureprompts symbolic figurative the and the painting Gainsborough’s of Comparison is crucial,notincidental.’ the landscape with whichthey engage relationship between the artworks and a self-portrait,onewhere read as‘the entirety can be its in Jupiter Artland (London: Thames & Hudson, 2002) p.210. Gainsborough (London:Thames&Hudson, 2002) 41 in Jupiter Artland, in the inJupiter Artland, Destination Art/Land Art/Site-Specific Art/SculptureThames & Hudson,2011), Parks(London: 44 The Return ofCuriosity: What MuseumsareGoodforin the 21stCentury (London:Reaktion Thedeliberate and The HistoryoftheScottishNational PortraitGallery(Edinburgh:NationalGalleries of The GenerousLandscape:TenYearsofJupiterArtland,(Edinburgh: Foun - Artland National Galleries of Scotland Turner January, in JMW Turner| Scotland, 7 2016, 42 Inthissense, 43 Little 190 significant landscape painting, in painting, itself, can be classified as portraiture. landscape a topographically significant confirms, gallery portrait a national policy of collecting the former.Indeed,as be part of embracing theideathatlattercan that is “spontaneous and intuitive.” that is“spontaneous achieving more a painting unconventional, something of portraiture, modern, idea a more fluid, fits better object that is moving or revealing.’or moving is that object not prevent areal encounter withthe the auraofthe originalandstilldoes are their citations…whichenhances senses notjustthemselves –they importantin are objectsmuseum ‘Many culture. asenteringpopular well as like Hockney, Bellany and Parker, contemporary artists a trope,inspiring national gallery, the picture has become a displayed in object,exposed highly a As it. classify to however wechoose art, of work holistic and a balanced It richly fuses the two genresto create In portraiture from landscape painting. practice that artisticallysegregated eighteenth-century more conventional a to conformed Gainsborough London, and Bath in studios for Suffolk left he It wasperhaps inevitable that once Mr. andMrs.Andrews,Gainsborough 46 47 45

WHY SET A PORTRAIT IN A LANDSCAPE A IN PORTRAIT A SET WHY Transition Gallery in 2014, for example, commissioned ten artists to respond to the painting, to “Meet the Newlyweds.”48 Like Parker’s response, they focus our attention on particular elements and moods in the original

painting, as in Dolly Tomsett’s WHY SET A PORTRAIT IN LANDSCAPE The Secret life of Mrs. Andrews. In concentrating on her ‘erotic reverie’… the artist makes us look again at this famous portrait from the perspective of the supposedly unpowerful female, putting…her musings centre stage.’49 Similarly, comparison of Parker’s piece with the painting that inspired it, enables a fresh encounter with the familiar whereby ‘the avant-garde reveals the past, because you can Figure 9. J.M.W. Turner, Rhymer’s Glen, Abbotsford, c. 1832, 14.0 x 9.0 cm, see it from a novel vantage point, watercolour with pen details on paper, The National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Photo credit: The National Galleries of Scotland. so from a fresh angle.’50 By bringing specific elements into focus, we see that portraits need not be only about likeness. As even Reynolds conceded of his rival’s unconventional techniques and disrespect for the strict delineation of landscape from portrait painting, Gainsborough ‘was always attentive to the general effect, or whole together.’51

Books, 2016) p. 92. 48 Alex Michon, Meet the Newlyweds - Alex Michon (transitiongallery.co.uk), December 2014, [Accessed: 28 January 2021]. 49 Alex Michon, Meet the Newlyweds - Alex Michon (transitiongallery.co.uk), December 2014 , [Accessed: 28 January 2021]. 50 Antony Gormley & Martin Gayford, Shaping the World: Sculpture from Pre-history to Now (London: Thames & Hudson, 2020) p. 143. 51 Sir Joshua Reynolds,, Burnet J (ed.), The Discourses of Sir Joshua Reynolds, (London: John Carpenter, 1842) p. 255.

191 192