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Thomas Gainsborough rivaled Sir Joshua Reynolds as the leading portrait painter of 18th-century England. He publicly stylised his opposition in art-theoretical questions, but remained in a good working relationship with Reynolds. Gainsborough had begun his career as a provincial painter in Suffolk by copying landscapes and portraying the landed gentry. From 1759 to 1774 he worked in the society resort of Bath, where a high-ranking, increasingly enthusiastic clientele gave him well-paid commissions. In 1768 Gainsborough was one of the founder-members of the Royal Academy of Arts, and the only portraitist who was not based in London. Still, that was where his exalted clientele lived, and so that was where he moved in 1774, profiting also from the patronage of the royal family.
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