GAINSBOROUGH THOMAS: (1727-1788) English Painter. A good, extremely rare A.L.S., Tho Gainsborough, two pages, 4to ...

GAINSBOROUGH THOMAS: (1727-1788) English Painter. A good, extremely rare A.L.S., Tho Gainsborough, two pages, 4to, Pall Mall, London, 29th September 1783, to his sister, Sarah ('Dear Sister Dupont'). The artist writes on family financial matters, stating, in part, 'I promised John [his brother, 'Scheming Jack'] when he did me the honor of a visit in Town, to allow him half a Crown a week; which with what his good Cousin Gainsbro: allow him, and Sister Gibbon [his sister, Mary Gainsborough], I hope will (if applied properly to his own use) render the remainder of his old age tollerably (sic) comfortable; for villainously old he is indeed grown. I have herewith sent you 3 Guineas, with which I beg the favor of you to supply him, for half a year, with 2s=6d pr. week, paying him on what Day of the week you judge most for his good; I should think not on the same Days that either Sister Gibbon's two shillings is paid, nor on those Days which his Cousin do for him. And that he may not know but what you advance the money out of your own pocket. I have inclosed a Letter that you may show him; which may gain you a better power to manage him, if troublesome to you….' Gainsborough concludes by sending his family's love to 'you and old Philip and all your Family' and in a postscript remarks 'My Wife and Daughter Fischer is just returned from Bath, where they have been upon a Visit for 3 weeks, and left all the Family well'. A letter of good content and association. A light, minor water stain appears to the upper right corner of each page, only very slightly affecting the text (which remains perfectly legible) and a small portion of the base of the second page has been neatly excised. With a lengthy, neat split to the vertical central fold. About VG Sarah 'Sally' Gainsborough (1718-1795) Sister of Thomas Gainsborough, wife of Philip Dupont (c.1722-1781) a carpenter and cabinet maker. Their son, Gainsborough Dupont (1754-1797), and Thomas Gainsborough's nephew was a pupil of the artist and the only assistant Gainsborough is ever known to have employed. Mary Gainsborough (1713-1790) Sister of Thomas Gainsborough, wife of Christopher Gibbon (1715-1760) a Church of England parson, curate and schoolmaster. John Gainsborough (1711-1789) Brother of Thomas Gainsborough, known within the family as 'Scheming Jack'. 'John was erratic, not really trustworthy, and not for nothing was he known in the family as ''Scheming Jack''…..something always went wrong with his schemes; his failures he would put down to the urgent flow of ideas: 'if I had but gone on with it I am sure I should have succeeded, but a new scheme came upon me'……''Scheming Jack'' remained a……lifelong burden to his younger siblings…..and was always in need of money' (from Gainsborough - A Portrait by James Hamilton, 2017). Autograph letters by Thomas Gainsborough rarely appear at auction and American Book Prices Current record only four examples having been sold at auction since 1975.