Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Robert Vernon
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/thomas-gainsborough-199" aria-label="More by Thomas Gainsborough" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Thomas Gainsborough</a>
Musidora
Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
actions: postures and motions
adults
bathing / swimming
classical myths: creatures
female
landscape
leg / legs raised
leisure and pastimes
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
nudes
nymph
people
recreational activities
religion and belief
sensuality
sex and relationships
sitting
society
Thomson, James, ‘The Seasons’
water: inland
waterfall
woman
wooded
<p>This is the only large-scale nude that Gainsborough ever painted. It remained unfinished and was never shown in public in his lifetime. The title probably refers to the nymph Musidora who represented ‘Summer’ in a popular eighteenth-century poem, <i>The Seasons</i>, by James Thomson. But this title was added later. Gainsborough probably saw this woman more generally as an anonymous classical nymph.The figure’s pose is based on a classical marble sculpture in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.</p><p><em>Gallery label, May 2007</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
8 October 2001 – 9 March 2003
2003-03-09
8 October 2001 – 9 March 2003
2003-03-09
2001-10-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-08
Britain and Italy in the Eighteenth Century
Collection based display
11 July 2005 – 6 November 2007
2007-11-06
11 July 2005
2005-07-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-07-11
Grand Manner
Collection based display
1 June 2011 – 30 September 2011
2011-09-30
1 June 2011 – 30 September 2011
2011-09-30
2011-06-01
Gainsborough’s House (Sudbury, UK)
2011-06-01
Diana and Actaeon
Loan-out
25 April 2014 – 19 October 2014
2014-10-19
25 April 2014 – 19 October 2014
2014-10-19
2014-04-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-04-25
Bodies of Nature
Collection based display
Musidora
support: 1880 × 1530 mm
Presented by <a href="/search?gid=999999978" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Robert Vernon</a> 1847
<p>This is the only large-scale nude that Gainsborough ever painted. It remained unfinished and was never shown in public in his lifetime. The title probably refers to the nymph Musidora who represented ‘Summer’ in a popular eighteenth-century poem, <i>The Seasons</i>, by James Thomson. But this title was added later. Gainsborough probably saw this woman more generally as an anonymous classical nymph.The figure’s pose is based on a classical marble sculpture in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.</p>

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2007-05-03T00:00:00
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actions: postures and motions adults bathing / swimming classical myths: creatures female landscape leg / legs raised leisure and pastimes literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) nudes nymph people recreational activities religion and belief sensuality sex and relationships sitting society Thomson, James, ‘The Seasons’ waterfall water: inland woman wooded