Mr and Mrs Andrews

Thomas Gainsborough

Mr and Mrs Andrews  (1750)

A Suitable Arrangement -

Him: The twenty-two-year-old Robert Andrews, Gentleman, and childhood friend of the artist Thomas Gainsborough.  Family in possession of one half of the Auberies estate in Suffolk.

Her:  The sixteen-year-old Mrs Robert Andrews, formerly known as Miss Frances Carter. Family in possession of the other half of the Auberies estate.

Marriage for the upper classes in the 18th century was dynastic rather than romantic. A wife, her children, and all she owned were the property of her husband. The fact that the families of Robert Andrews and Frances Carter owned neighbouring pieces of land was no doubt the reason for their union. The two may have been childhood sweethearts, but it is equally possible that they may have barely known each other.

The couple got married in November 1748 and Gainsborough made this portrait of them shortly after the wedding.

The couple is shown in front of a stout oak tree – the husband standing and the wife sitting. A real, sprawling landscape stretches out behind them: everything here is unmistakably English.

Robert Andrews cradles his shotgun under his arm as his dog looks up at him. He stands proudly in the midst of his huge estate, which had just become even more extensive thanks to his marriage. His attitude is aloof yet businesslike.

Frances Carter is sitting on a wooden Rococo bench. Her pose might have been lifted straight from a book of etiquette.

Our eyes are drawn from a fertile field with recently harvested golden sheaves of corn to meadows of grazing sheep, a stand of trees and the hills in the distance. The clouds touch the land at the horizon. The enclosure of the sheep was a recent development – livestock had previously wandered about freely and the neat parallel rows of corn  show that this is a thoroughly modern and efficient farm.

Gainsborough has left a space on Mrs Andrews’ lap, possibly anticipating the birth of a child to be included at a later date. Though the space in the painting was never filled, we do know that the couple went on to have nine children together, which testifies to a long and fruitful marriage, arranged or not… (Wikipedia,  National Gallery London)