# Lady Bate-Dudley [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [GAINSBOROUGH, Thomas]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 221 x 145 cm ## Commentary Lady Bate-Dudley was the wife of the newspaper publisher and art critic Sir Henry Bate-Dudley who since 1777 had been giving Gainsborough enthusiastic support in his articles. In 1780 he had the artist paint a life-size portrait of himself in a park landscape. When the portrait of his wife followed in 1787, Gainsborough once again chose the landscape situation, but had recourse to a classical Urania pose. Lady Bate-Dudley is leaning against a garden monument with her legs crossed. The extended index finger of her left hand is touching her temple, a graceful, relaxed pose. In England, a natural form of dress had already by now become usual. Flowing around the body is a diaphanous veil which covers her coiffure. Her hair itself is no longer powdered, while skirts were only slightly "upholstered" and fabrics were allowed to fall loosely and playfully. The decollete was smaller, the bodice less rigid, and there was only a shawl about the hips. This new naturalness is the hallmark of Lady Bate-Dudley's portrait. Gainsborough creates a virtuoso combination of this natural portraiture and the trees and shrubs of the garden ambience. The ensemble is supported by the interplay of the distant light with the close-up illumination. Lady Bate-Dudley appears as her own source of light in the picture. ## Related artworks - [Conversation in a Park]() - [Elizabeth and Thomas Linley]() - [Elizabeth Wrottesly]() - [Isaac Henrique Sequeira]() - [Johann Christian Bach]() - [Johann Christian Fischer]() - [Lady Alston]() - [Landscape in Suffolk]() - [Mary, Countess of Howe]() - [Master John Heathcote]() - [Mr and Mrs Andrews]() - [Mr and Mrs William Hallett \('The Morning Walk'\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()