Game Bag by James Rogers

 This game bag is constructed in linen. The leather is vegetable tanned and all stitching is done in linen thread. It has a pewter button closure. The draw cords are hemp and the tassels are linen. This style game bag can be worn on a waist belt as seen in Gainsborough's painting of "Mr. and Mrs. Andrews" (c. 1748) or can be slung on a shoulder belt as seen Zoffany's painting of "The Third Duke of Richmond out Shooting with his Servant" (1765)

"Mr. and Mrs. Andrews"

Thomas Gainsborough

1748

This portrait is the masterpiece of Gainsborough's early years. It was painted after his return home from London to Suffolk in 1748, soon after the marriage of Robert Andrews of the Auberies and Frances Carter of Ballingdon House, near Sudbury, in November of that year. 



The landscape evokes Robert Andrews's estate, to which his marriage added property. He has a gun under his arm, while his wife sits on an elaborate Rococo-style wooden bench. The painting of Mrs Andrews's lap is unfinished. The space may have been reserved for a child for Mrs Andrews to hold.



The painting follows the fashionable convention of the conversation piece, a (usually) small-scale portrait showing two or more people, often out of doors. The emphasis on the landscape here allows Gainsborough to display his skills as a painter of convincingly changing weather and naturalistic scenery, still a novelty at this time.

"The Third Duke of Richmond out Shooting with his Servant"

Johann Zoffany

Germany, 1765

Thomas Gainborough copy and painting from The National Gallery and the Johann Zoffany painting from Museum Syndicate. Copy and photos of bags supplied by James Rogers.