Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
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>
Housemaid
Presented by Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle 1913
adults
architecture
broom
domestic
domestic
door
features
maid
objects
people
sweeping
woman
work and occupations
<p>The large format of this unfinished painting would normally be used for grand portraits of the rich or famous, instead of the working-class woman shown here. In fact, there is a tradition that the woman is the wealthy Hon Mrs Graham in fancy dress.</p><p>Whether it is a fancy-dress portrait or a depiction of a working woman, the painting raises some intriguing questions. Does it simply pander to fantasies of dignified poverty or encourage true sympathy for ordinary people? Is this a kind of voyeuristic ‘pin-up’, or a powerful image of a real social type?</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
4 April 2003 – 22 June 2003
2003-06-22
4 April 2003 – 22 June 2003
2003-06-22
2003-04-04
National Galleries of Scotland (Edinburgh, UK)
2003-04-04
Gainsborough's Beautiful Garden
Loan-out
19 July 2004 – 27 June 2005
2005-06-27
1 March 2004
2004-03-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2004-07-19
Sensibility
Collection based display
6 October 2005 – 14 May 2006
2006-05-14
6 October 2005 – 30 December 2005
2005-12-30
2005-10-06
Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA)
http://ycba.yale.edu/index.asp
11 February 2006 – 14 May 2006
2006-05-14
2006-02-11
Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (San Marino, USA)
http://www.huntington.org
2005-10-06
Cottage Door
Loan-out
24 March 2018 – 1 December 2019
2019-12-01
24 March 2018 – 1 December 2019
2019-12-01
2018-03-24
Castle Howard (York, UK)
2018-03-24
Thomas Gainsborough display
Loan-out
The Housemaid
support: 2349 × 1486 mm
frame: 2608 × 1737 × 115 mm
Presented by Rosalind, Countess of Carlisle 1913
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text0">The large format of this unfinished <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> would      normally be used for grand <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portraits</span></a> of the rich or famous, instead of the      working-class woman shown here. In fact, there is a tradition that the      woman is the wealthy Hon  Mrs Graham in fancy dress.  
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="para9">
<span class="text0">
<br/> </span>
</div>
<div class="pbodytext">
<span class="text13">Whether it is a fancy-dress portrait </span><span class="text0">
or a depiction of a working woman, the painting raises some      intriguing questions. </span><span class="text13">Does it simply pander to      fantasies of dignified poverty or encourage true </span><span class="text0">sympathy for ordinary people? Is this a kind of voyeuristic      ‘pin-up’, or a powerful image of a real social type? </span>
</div>

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2004-09-10T00:00:00
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adults architecture broom domestic domestic door features maid objects people sweeping woman work and occupations