Thomas Gainsborough A country life cover

Hugh Graham Belsey,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

, (born May 1954) is a British

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

who is an authority on the art of

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

. For 23 years he was the curator of Gainsborough's House in Sudbury. His most recent contribution to Gainsborough scholarship is his

catalogue raisonné A ''catalogue raisonné'' (or critical catalogue) is a comprehensive, annotated listing of all the known artworks by an artist either in a particular medium or all media. The works are described in such a way that they may be reliably identified ...

of Gainsborough's portraits published in February 2019 by the Yale University Press for the

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art is a scholarly centre in London devoted to supporting original research into the history of British Art. It was founded in 1970 and endowed by a gift from Paul Mellon. Since 1996, it has been si ...

Early life and education

Hugh Belsey was born in May 1954 in the district of

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...

, Hertfordshire. He received his undergraduate degree from the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

which he followed with a post-graduate diploma in art gallery and museum studies. He earned an

MLitt The Master of Letters degree (MLitt or LittM; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. Ireland Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University offer MLitt degrees. Trinity has offered them the longest, owing largely to its tradition as Ireland ...

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

from the Barber Institute, University of Birmingham, where he specialised in the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

and the collecting of George, 3rd Earl Cowper.Hugh Belsey MBE.
University of Buckingham. Retrieved 30 December 2018.

Career

Belsey worked at

Bowood House Bowood is a Grade I listed Georgian country house in Wiltshire, England, that has been owned for more than 250 years by the Fitzmaurice family. The house, with interiors by Robert Adam, stands in extensive grounds which include a garden designed ...

in Wiltshire after which he became curator of

Gainsborough's House Gainsborough's House is the birthplace of the leading English painter Thomas Gainsborough. It is now a museum and gallery, located at 46 Gainsborough Street in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. Some of the pictures on display have been acquired with ...

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

, a position he held for 23 years. He has been a senior research fellow at the

Yale Center for British Art Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...

during which time he worked upon compiling the ''

'' of the portraits by Thomas Gainsborough published in February 2019. He has also taught a museum course at the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chance ...

and is known also for his annual lecture series on British art which he delivers in different Suffolk venues. He is often commissioned to write catalogue entries for the major auction houses and fine art dealers on especially Thomas Gainsborough, and the artist's nephew and only pupil Gainsborough Dupont. Belsey was a founder member of the Constable Trust, and has served as its chairman. He was on the Council of the

Association of Independent Museums The Association of Independent Museums (AIM) is an organisation that represents and supports independent museums based in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1977. AIM produces the ''Aim Bulletin'', a bi-monthly magazine that is free for mem ...

for ten years. In 2014, Belsey appeared in the BBC television series ''

Fake or Fortune? ''Fake or Fortune?'' is a BBC One documentary television series which examines the provenance and attribution of notable artworks. Since the first series aired in 2011, ''Fake or Fortune?'' has drawn audiences of up to 5 million viewers in t ...

'' in which he authenticated two previously unattributed works, a landscape and a portrait of Joseph Gape, as being by Thomas Gainsborough.

Selected publications

*''Gainsborough's family''. Gainsborough's House Society, 1988. *''Gainsborough the printmaker''. Aldeburgh Foundation, 1988. *''From Gainsborough to Constable: The emergence of naturalism in British landscape painting, 1750–1810''. Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1991. (Editor) *''Thomas Churchyard (1798–1865): A bicentenary exhibition from the collections at Christchurch Mansion''. Ipswich Borough Council, Ipswich, 1998. *''Gainsborough's beautiful Mrs. Graham''. National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1999. *''Love's prospect: Gainsborough's Byam family and the eighteenth century marriage portrait''.

Holburne Museum of Art The Holburne Museum (formerly known as the Holburne of Menstrie Museum and the Holburne Museum of Art) is located in Sydney Pleasure Gardens, Bath, Somerset, England. The city's first public art gallery, the Grade I listed building, is home to ...

, Bath, 2001. *''Gainsborough at Gainsborough's house''. Paul Holberton, London, 2002. *''Gainsborough Pop!'' Paul Holberton, London, 2002. (With Christopher Wright) *''Thomas Gainsborough: A country life''. Prestel, Munich & London. 2002. *''Gainsborough's cottage doors: An insight into the artist's last decade.'' Paul Holberton, London, 2013.Gainsborough's Cottage Doors: An Insight into the Artist’s Last Decade.
Paul Holberton Publishing. Retrieved 30 December 2018.

References

External links

Hugh Belsey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Belsey, Hugh Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire British art historians Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Birmingham Thomas Gainsborough 1954 births Academics of the University of Buckingham People from Hemel Hempstead Fake or Fortune?