Mr. And Mrs. Robert Andrews Analysis Essay
When choosing Thomas Gainsborough’s work, Mr. And Mrs. Robert Andrews, my eyes were focused on the astound nature of the work. When viewing the fine details of the naturistic composition, three focal points attracted my attention. The first was the sight of Mrs. Andrews sitting on a bench seated adjacent to Mr. Andrew who is standing, the second was Mr. Andrews clutching his rifle under his arm and reaching inside a bag, and the third observation I made was Mrs. Andrews blue dress which shows a missing patch. The artwork entails much more than what is shown.
As I study the composing oil double portrait, the first thing I see is Mrs. Andrews who is seen seated on a bench, while Mr. Andrews appears to be standing. From my visual perspective, Mr. Robert Andrews appears to be wearing a coat and a large black hat with a relaxed but strong posture, shown by his legs crossed and body straight and one arm out, and one inside a sack. Mr. Andrew's jacket has several buttons and is silk-like with dark grays contrasted with white. As for Mrs. Andrews, she is seen with a blue dress as well as a straw hat and looks primarily poised. Mrs. Andrews also wears a silk-like dress that exposes bright blue with gold outlining in means of texture. What caught my eye when viewing the two was that they are staring back at you. This shows that Gainsborough knows how to incorporate a direct connection with the viewer as our eyes focus on the two and when we make eye contact, we then wander to other parts of the work, such as details around them. For instance, Mr. Andrew's rifle and him reaching into a bag, which then we explore what that could symbolize in the work shown.
When looking at Mr. Andrews, he is seen crossing his legs and holding a rifle with his upper arm. As we look closer at the focal point, we also notice his hand reached into a bag. The bag itself symbolizes mystery. Although we can make theories and guesses on what is inside the bag, we cannot infer that just yet. However, we can see that he is resting a rifle toward the ground, which could imply that he is reaching for gunpowder to use the rifle. It is easy to make assumptions on why Mr. Andrews has a rifle in the art shown. Inf, Gainsborough may be using this to put an emphasis that Mr. Andrews may be hunting. When we look around the portrait, we notice long, green fields with what looks to be farm animals and wilderness in the background. This shows that nature was intended to show that hunting for animals is a possibility with the various trees and hills as shown. What is interesting about this as well is that Mrs. Andrews is not wearing hunting attire and is seen with an empty patch on her dress. Why does this stand out, you may ask? There is a sense of confusion as we see most of the dress blue. Now, we will explore what the patch means and why Gainsborough might have included it.
While looking around Mrs. Andrews, I was curious about a feature on her dress that piqued my interest. As shown, Mrs. Andrews has a missing patch on her dress near her hands. Why did Gainsborough leave that feature out? How can we evaluate the emphasis he intended? As I view the silky blue dress, I see that a patch is missing. The mystery looming in that area is not lucid and Gainsborough does this for us to interpret what is going to be in place. To make assumptions is tough because we are left guessing what could be there. In my opinion, it could mean that Mrs. Andrews is waiting for something to occur. One possibility is that she could be knitting and reserving that spot, another theory could be that it is there just to leave the viewer from wanting more. When we look at this, our conjecture is blank. After all, we may never know what Gainsborough meant in the art, but we appreciate the work for what it symbolizes which is up to our inferences.
To conclude, choosing the work, Mr. And Mrs. Robert Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough was an interesting one to analyze. With all the elements involved in the conspicuous artwork, the elegant posture of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews on the bench, the powerful role of Mr. Andrews with his rifle and bag, and the mystery of the missing patch appearing on Mrs. Andrews dress, all invoked powerful meanings shown by Gainsborough that reflected into my perception.
