The Linley Sisters

{{Short description|Painting by Thomas Gainsborough}} {{Infobox artwork | image_file=Gainsborough, Thomas - Elizabeth and Mary Linley - Google Art Project.jpg | image_upright=1.2 | title=The Linley Sisters | artist=[[Thomas Gainsborough]] | year=1772 | type=[[Oil painting|Oil on canvas]], [[portrait painting]] | height_metric=199 | width_metric=153.5 | metric_unit=cm | imperial_unit=in | museum=[[Dulwich Picture Gallery]] | city=[[London]] }}

'''''The Linley Sisters''''' is an oil on canvas [[portrait painting]] by the British artist [[Thomas Gainsborough]], from 1772.<ref>Jones p. 120</ref>

==History and description== It depicts the [[singers]] [[Elizabeth Ann Linley]] and her younger sister [[Mary Linley]]. Gainsborough was at the time a Bath-based painter focusing on society portraits. The sisters were part of the musical Linley Family based in the city, both daughters of [[Thomas Linley the elder]]. Elizabeth famously [[eloped]] with the playwright [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]]. The two sisters are shown in a natural setting. One of them is seated, with a music book on her lap, while she looks smiling to the viewer. The other sister is up and rests calmly her shoulder upon her sibling, as she looks to the left.

The painting was displayed at the [[Royal Academy of Arts|Royal Academy]]'s [[Summer Exhibition]] of 1772 at [[Pall Mall, London|Pall Mall]] along with another Gainsborough work ''[[Portrait of Sir William Pulteney]]''.<ref>Hamilton p.211</ref> In 1785 it was retouched by Gainsborough at the request of the Linley family to make the costumes of the style-conscious sisters reflect the current fashion. In 1835 it was donated by their brother [[William Linley]] to the [[Dulwich Picture Gallery]] and remains in the collection there.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Elizabeth and Mary Linley {{!}} Dulwich Picture Gallery |url=https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/explore-the-collection/301-350/elizabeth-and-mary-linley/ |access-date=2025-03-02 |website=www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk}} </ref>

==See also== * ''[[Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan (painting)|Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan]]'', a 1787 portrait of Elizabeth Linley by Gainsborough

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Hamilton, James. ''Gainsborough: A Portrait''. Hachette UK, 2017. * Jones, Rica. ''Thomas Gainsborough''. Harry N. Abrams, 2009. * Lindsay, Jack. ''Thomas Gainsborough: His Life and Art''. Granada, 1981. * Waterhouse, Ellis Kirkham. ''Gainsborough''. Spring Books, 1966.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linley Sisters, The}} [[Category:1772 paintings]] [[Category:Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough]] [[Category:Oil paintings on canvas]] [[Category:18th-century portraits]] [[Category:Paintings in the Dulwich Picture Gallery]] [[Category:Paintings of women]]