学者和发烧友们都将陶醉于这部包含两册的托马斯•盖恩斯伯勒（Thomas Gainsborough）的肖像画和老大师作品的副本。该目录包含约1100幅画作，包括新近归因于这位英国大师的近200幅作品，以及有关他的主题和专门请人拍摄的作品的最新信息。每幅肖像作品均包括被画者的传记——包括几幅最新鉴别出来的——绘画的出处，以及展示了每幅作品的展览。盖恩斯伯勒模仿老大师们的作品（带着敬意创作并被用来将他们的绘画风格吸收到他自己的作品中）也记录在这本书中。研究包括对报纸档案和其他印刷材料的深入分析，以确定一幅画的创作日期，记录该画家风格的发展历程，并评估其作品在其时间范围内的印象。

Scholars and enthusiasts alike will revel in this ambitious two-volume catalogue raisonné of Thomas Gainsborough’s portraits and copies of Old Master works. The catalogue contains approximately 1,100 paintings, including nearly 200 works newly attributed to the British master, as well as updated information about his subjects and specially commissioned photography. Each portrait entry includes the biography of the sitter—including several newly identified—the painting’s provenance, and exhibitions in which each work was shown. Gainsborough’s copies after Old Masters, painted in admiration and used to assimilate their style of painting into his own work, are documented here as well. Research includes in-depth analysis of newspaper archives and other printed material to establish the date of a painting’s production, chart the development of the artist’s style, and assess the impression the work made within the context of its time.