Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Thomas Gainsborough, 1727–1788, British
Title:
Major John Dade of Tannington, Suffolk
Date:
ca. 1755
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
30 × 25 1/2 inches (76.2 × 64.8 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1993.30.9
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
horses (animals) | fence | partridge | costume | portrait | hunter | hat | hunting rifles | tricorn | rifle | country | sporting art | animals | dogs (animals)
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
The Sassoons (The Jewish Museum, 2023-03-03 - 2023-08-13)
Publications:
Hugh Belsey, Thomas Gainsborough, a country life , Prestel, Munich London, 2002, p. 29, fig. 17, NJ18 G16 B463 2002 (YCBA)

Hugh Belsey, Thomas Gainsborough: The portraits, fancy pictures and copies after old masters, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, p. 227-228, cat. 234, NJ18.G16 B453 2019 (LC) Oversize (YCBA)

John T. Hayes, Thomas Gainsborough, Tate Publishing, [S.l., 1980, p. 85, no. 69, NJ18 G16 H48 (YCBA)

Leggatt brothers catalogue : Exhibition of English painting c.1759-c.1850 : In aid of the national art-collections fund : 11 October until 1 November, Leggatt Brothers, London, Autumn 1963, p. 24, no. 24, DealerCat Leggatt Brothers (YCBA)

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v.3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Diane Perkins, Gainsborough's dogs, Gainsborough's House, Sudbury, Suffolk, 2006, p.29, fig. 17, NJ18 G16 P47 2006 (YCBA)

William Vaughan, Gainsborough, Thames and Hudson, New York, NY, 2002, pp. 62-63, no. 40, NJ18 G16 V28 2002 (YCBA)

Ellis Waterhouse, Gainsborough, Spring Books, London, 1966, p. 99, no. 759, NJ18 G16 A12 W28 1966 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)

John Wilmerding, Essays in honor of Paul Mellon, collector and benefactor : Essays, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC & Hanover, NH, 1986, pp. 90-91, no. 6, N7442.2 M455 1986 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Major Dade was an officer of the East Suffolk militia and lived at Tannington, near Framlingham, north of Ipswich. He probably met Gainsborough through their mutual friend, the attorney Samuel Kilderbee, who in 1755 became Town Clerk of Ispwich. The major is shown reloading his gun after shooting an English partridge. The dog on the right has retrieved the game, while the other one catches the scent of the dead bird and approaches it with definite interest. In the distance, beyond the wooden gate, a groom takes care of the major's horse. Such specific narrative details are to be found only rarely in Gainsborough's early portrait practice, and never at all in his later portraits. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1397