Self-portrait
National Portrait Gallery, London
Self-portrait is a painting by Thomas Gainsborough, held at the National Portrait Gallery in London. Gainsborough had such a difficult relationship with the Royal Academy that this self-portrait was not shown there until two decades after his death, following diplomatic discussions between the institution and his daughter[1]. He had left strict instructions that no plaster cast, model or likeness of him should be taken after his death, and that if he were to be represented posthumously at all, it should be only through a modest engraving based on a late self-portrait oil sketch[1]. By the time he painted this image, Gainsborough had grown resentful of what he derisively called the phizmongering of his profession, and the writer Laura Cumming describes the resulting picture as an intimate communication rather than a public performance, dashed off like a letter for his friend the composer Carl Friedrich Abel[1]. Cumming contrasts this private, unguarded quality with the more formal self-portraits produced around the same period by contemporaries such as Sir Thomas Lawrence, who resisted requests for a self-portrait for years and only relented under royal pressure, and George Romney, whose own images carry none of Gainsborough's sly, quick-witted directness[1]. Gainsborough worked largely alone throughout his career, without the assistants and drapery painters his rival Reynolds employed, which lends even his more private images a distinctly personal, unassisted quality[2].
Where it is held
Held at National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
The painting is held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
An intimate letter, not a public statement
Gainsborough painted this self-portrait not as a formal record for public display but as something closer to a private communication, made for his friend the composer Carl Friedrich Abel[1]. Laura Cumming describes it as dashed off like a letter, capturing a sly, shrewd, undeceived expression, a swivel of the eye that those close to Gainsborough would have recognised instantly as his quick-witted intelligence[1]. That intimacy is the point of the image: it was never conceived as a performance for strangers, which is part of why Gainsborough resisted having it shown at the institution most associated with public artistic display, the Royal Academy.
Instructions against being remembered in likeness
Gainsborough left explicit instructions that after his death no plaster cast, model or likeness of him should be taken[1]. If he had to be represented at all after his death, he specified that it should be only through a modest engraving, and even then based on a late self-portrait oil sketch rather than any new record made from his body[1]. This was a pointed rejection of the conventions many of his contemporaries followed, in which a death mask or commissioned posthumous portrait preserved an artist's image for institutional memory. Gainsborough wanted control over exactly how, or whether, he would be remembered visually.
Phizmongering, and a difficult relationship with the Academy
By this stage of his career Gainsborough had grown openly resentful of what he called phizmongering, his own derisive term for the business of painting faces for a living[1]. That resentment extended to his standing with the Royal Academy, an institution he had helped found as one of its thirty-four original members in 1768, but with which he maintained an antagonistic relationship for the rest of his career, eventually stopping his regular exhibitions there after a dispute over how his paintings were hung[2]. The self-portrait itself bore the weight of this friction directly: it was not displayed at the Academy until two decades after Gainsborough's death, and only then after discussions between the institution and his daughter secured its inclusion[1].
Common questions
Why wasn't Gainsborough's self-portrait shown at the Royal Academy during his lifetime?
He had an antagonistic relationship with the institution, and the portrait was only displayed there two decades after his death, following discussions with his daughter[1].
What instructions did Gainsborough leave about his own image after death?
He specified that no plaster cast, model or likeness of him should be taken, and that if he were represented posthumously it should be only through a modest engraving based on a late self-portrait sketch[1].
Who was the self-portrait made for?
It was made in an intimate, personal spirit for Gainsborough's friend, the composer Carl Friedrich Abel, rather than as a public statement[1].
Where is the Self-portrait displayed today?
It is held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following references, verified against the museum and public-domain image record for this work.
- [1] book Laura Cumming, A Face to the World: On Self-Portraits Used for: this artwork.
- [2] book Susie Hodge, Art: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Artists and Their Work Used for: this artwork.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-09-03. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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