“.. as I met with Mr. (Dunning there. There is something exclusive of the clear and deep understanding of that gentleman most exceedingly pleasing to me. He seems the only man who talks as Giardini plays, if you know what I mean; he puts no more motion than what goes to the real performance, which constitutes that ease and gentility peculiar to damned clever fellows... He is an amazing compact man in every respect.... and besides this neatness in outward appearance, his storeroom seems cleared of all French ornaments and gingerbread work, everything is simplicity and elegance and in its proper place, no disorder or confusion in the furniture.... Sober sense and great acuteness are marked very strong in his face.... but there is genius (in our sense of the word). (It) shines in all he says. In short, Mr. Jackson of Exeter [his friend], I begin to think there is something in the air of Devonshire that grows clever fellows. I could name four or five of you, superior to the product of any other county in England.”

Quote from Gainsborough's letter to his friend William Jackson of Exeter, from Bath, 2 Sept. 1768; as cited in Thomas Gainsborough, by William T, Whitley https://ia800204.us.archive.org/6/items/thomasgainsborou00whitrich/thomasgainsborou00whitrich.pdf; New York, Charles Scribner's Sons – London, Smith, Elder & Co, Sept. 1915, p. 384 (Appendix A - Letter VII)
1755 - 1769

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote ".. as I met with Mr. (Dunning there. There is something exclusive of the clear and deep understanding of that gentleman…" by Thomas Gainsborough?
Thomas Gainsborough photo
Thomas Gainsborough 28
English portrait and landscape painter 1727–1788

Related quotes

Alfred the Great photo

“He seems to me a very foolish man, and very wretched, who will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear.”

Alfred the Great (849–899) King of Wessex

Last words in Blostman [Blooms] (c. 895 AD) an anthology, based largely on the Soliloquies of Augustine of Hippo.

George William Curtis photo
R. G. Collingwood photo
Bertrand Russell photo
Nelson Mandela photo
Tommy Douglas photo

“I am still a little fellow. Mr. Tucker is big enough to swallow me, but if he did, he would be the strangest man in the world. He would have more brains in his stomach than he does in his head.”

Tommy Douglas (1904–1986) Scottish-born Canadian politician

To Liberal leader of the time Walter Tucker, quoted "Star Phoenix" July 14 1947.

Edmund Burke photo
Roberto Clemente photo
Karl Jaspers photo

“Man is always something more than what he knows of himself. He is not what he is simply once and for all, but is a process…”

Karl Jaspers (1883–1969) German psychiatrist and philosopher

Man in the Modern Age (1933), p. 146

Thomas Mann photo

Related topics