The Wife of William St Quintin

The wife of William St Quintin is a painting by Thomas Gainsborough.

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), a well-known portraitist in the British Rococo period, delved into the melancholic sense of Van Dyck, in addition to showing a great interest in landscaping, something quite novel in this style, but that can be related to the future English landscaping of the Romantic era and authors such as John Constable. In fact, Gainsborough is famous for having been able to combine portrait and landscape in the same work, both being able to surprise the viewer in terms of their qualities.

Due to the chronology of the painting, we can identify the portrayed husband as Sir William St Quintin (c. 1700 – 9 May 1770), fourth Baron of Harpham and Scampston in Yorkshire, who was an important landowner and Member of Parliament.

This was the eldest son of Hugh St. Quentin; he became a baron in 1723 on the death of his uncle, Sir William St Quintin, who had never married.

Sir William St Quintin married Rebecca, daughter of Sir John Thompson, Lord Mayor of London in 1736; which can be represented in this work years later.