Portrait of John Langston, Esquire, of Sarsden

Thomas Gainsborough R.A.

1787

Oil on canvas

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A full-length portrait depicts a man in a dark coat and breeches, standing with a hat in his left hand next to a chair. A landscape is visible through an opening on the left. A full-length portrait depicts a man in a dark coat and breeches, standing with a hat in his left hand next to a chair. A landscape is visible through an opening on the left. John Langston, Esquire, was a country gentleman in England of great standing. His dark suit with ruffled blouse and powdered wig are of-the-moment fashion. Langston is standing before an open window depicting a bucolic countryside, perhaps meant to represent his own land holdings in Sarsden. Thomas Gainsborough was one of the most talented and sought-after British portraitists of the 18th century. While he maintained that landscape painting was his first love,