Horsington Church is staging a concert on Sunday July 16th with an interesting and unusual theme – Thomas Gainsborough’s Musical Friends.
Thomas Gainsborough was an accomplished musician as well as an artist, and painted many of his musical friends and acquaintances, including Charles Frederick Abel, John Christian Bach, John Stanley and members of the Linley family. He played the violin and the harpsichord but had a particular affection for the viola da gamba or bass viol and the lute, then both rare instruments.
Local musician Janet Coles, an accomplished and well-known cellist, is joined by David Jewel on the Flute and John Davenport on the Spinet (an 18th Century harpsichord) to play a selection of music which would have been enjoyed and played by Gainsborough and his chums.
Readers may recall one of Janet’s earlier concerts, a musical exploration of the life of Parson Woodford. This time the audience will be spared a ham actor impersonating the venerable subject, and instead will see a slide show illustrating aspects of Gainsborough and his life.
A delicious cream tea will follow.
Sunday 16th July, 3pm
St John’s Church, Horsington
Suggested donation £8.00, in aid of church funds.
About Thomas Gainsborough (Wikipedia)
Thomas Gainsborough FRSA (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. He surpassed his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds to become the dominant British portraitist of the second half of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. He preferred landscapes to portraits, and is credited (with Richard Wilson) as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.