The portrait Giovanna Baccelli (1782) exemplifies the artist’s mature style, which is characterized by his small and light brushstrokes. The subject of the portrait is Italian dancer Giovanna Baccelli, the principal ballerina at the King’s Theater, Haymarket. The pinnacle of her acclaimed career was during the 1780-1781season when she worked with the famous ballet master Jean-Georges Noverre and ballet dancer Gaetan Vestris. She also achieved great success performing in Venice in 1783-1784, and at the Paris Opera as late as 1788.
Baccelli was equally known for being the last and most enduring mistress of John Frederick Sackville, 3rd Duke of Dorset. The two lived a lavish lifestyle, and in 1779, the Duke set up Baccelli in Knole House in Sevenoaks, Kent. She also accompanied him to Paris when he was appointed Ambassador, and the pair were even admitted to the court of Queen Marie-Antoinette. With the outset of the French Revolution, they returned to Knole, where they stayed until they amicably parted ways in 1789. When Gainsborough exhibited Giovanna Baccelli at the Royal Academy in 1782, his other painting, a half-length portrait of the Duke was removed in order to preserve decorum. Baccelli’s talent also inspired Gainsborough’s contemporaries: she was the subject of portraits, lithographs, drawings, and sculptures by artists like Joshua Reynolds, John Graham, John Boydell, and John Baptiste Locatelli.
Gainsborough painted Baccelli in the costume from her role in Les Amans Supris, a ballet by Louis Simonet that took London by storm in December 1780. He captures Baccelli mid-movement in a dancer pose: her slender foot is extended forward while she elegantly holds the edge of her skirt with her left hand. Through the costume and pose, Gainsborough emphasizes Baccelli’s role as a dancer, capturing the poise and grace she brought to the stage. In preparation for the portrait, Gainsborough created a small oil sketch, that is now in the collection of Sir Alfred Beit at Russborough House. There are several differences between the sketch and the full-length portrait. In the sketch, there is no tambourine, and the trees in the background are much lower. Gainsborough raised the trees in the final version to surround the dancer’s arm, thus drawing more attention to her expression.
In this mature phase of his career, Gainsborough was interested in different approaches for capturing movement and the effects of light and space. In Giovanna Baccelli, the artist experimented with new ways of depicting a figure in a natural setting. He created a harmonious color scheme, as the blue, pink, and white tones of Baccelli’s dress echo in the colors of the sky and landscape. The painting is one of the finest examples of Gainsborough’s mature portrait style: not only he captures the likeness of his subject but also demonstrates his masterly brushwork of small, quick, and light strokes. Through the delicate brushwork, the artist creates the illusion of movement, that injects liveliness into the portrait. The portrait was praised by critics, and one commented that it was ‘original, light airy and elegant’ like Baccelli herself.
