Johann Christian Bach

1 portrait of Thomas Gainsborough

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Johann Christian Bach

by Thomas Gainsborough
oil on canvas, circa 1776
29 3/4 in. x 24 3/8 in. (755 mm x 620 mm) lined
Purchased, 1983
Primary Collection
NPG 5557

On display in Room 18 on Floor 3 at the National Portrait Gallery

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), Portrait and landscape painter. Artist or producer associated with 268 portraits, Sitter in 8 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Bach chose his close friend Gainsborough to paint his portrait for the gallery of famous musicians being formed by his master, Padre Martini, at Bologna; this second version may have been painted for Bach himself.

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1776back to top

Current affairs

Tahitian visitor to London Omai returns home with Captain James Cook on his third voyage. During his two-year stay he inspired a play and was painted by Joshua Reynolds.
Member of Parliament David Hartley unsuccessfully introduces a motion to the House of Commons calling for the abolition of the slave trade.

Art and science

Edward Gibbon produces the first volume of his monumental The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Artist John Constable is born.
Scottish economist Adam Smith analyses the nature and causes of prosperity in his magnum opus The Wealth of Nations.

International

American War of Independence: George Washington raises a new American flag on Prospect Hill, Boston. In an anonymous pamphlet entitled Common Sense, English immigrant Thomas Paine is the first to argue that the American colonies should be independent. Declaration of American Independence on 4 July.

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