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The Kimbell buys a masterpiece by Gainsborough
A century or so ago, Thomas Gainsborough was among the most sought after Old Masters painters by American collectors. He became a household name after his Blue Boy was sold in 1921 by the Second Duke of Westminster to Californian railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington for $778,800 (about $9.50 million today), making it then the most expensive painting ever sold. Thanks to the generosity of these collectors. Gainsborough is richly represented in American museums: the Frick Collection, New York (eleven paintings including The Mall in St. James Park), the National Gallery, Washington, DC (thirteen paintings) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (ten paintings). The Louvre, which is relatively poor in English paintings, has only three.
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- Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)
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