Dr Ralph Schomberg
- Artist: Thomas Gainsborough
- Date: about 1770
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Dr Ralph Schomberg" painted by Thomas Gainsborough. The portrait was created in about 1770, when Gainsborough was based in Bath, a fashionable spa town where he had established a very successful portrait-painting practice.
The subject of this painting, Dr Ralph Schomberg, was aged around 56 at the time it was made. He stands slightly angled to us, with an upright and subtly deferential pose, conveying a benevolent concern. The landscape in the background is romantically wild yet artificial, painted with bold unblended brushstrokes that give a sense of enormous speed and sureness.
Notice how the red of Dr Schomberg's frock coat has faded unevenly in the light, leaving it a brown-beige colour with some patchy areas of deep red and pink. Gainsborough was known for painting his portraits quickly, using colours that were 'very liquid', as his daughter Margaret observed.
It's worth noting that this portrait may have been painted in place of medical fees, as Gainsborough often gave favours to the doctors who treated him and his family. Dr Ralph Schomberg himself had a somewhat troubled life, being the eldest son of a prominent physician in London and facing financial difficulties later on.
See it in person
Dr Ralph Schomberg hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
