Dr Ralph Schomberg

This full-length may have been Gainsborough's way of settling a doctor's bill. During his 15 years in Bath he consulted several physicians for himself and his family, and the National Gallery suggests he painted Dr Ralph Schomberg around 1770 in place of medical fees. Schomberg was about 56, the eldest son of Meyer Löw Schomberg, a German Jewish physician who had been one of the most successful doctors in London. He was the family's black sheep, often in debt. Here he stands with grave courtesy, hat and cane in hand, in a powdered wig and a coat whose red has faded unevenly in the light, against a wild wooded hillside under a darkening sky. In 1777 he was caught taking money meant for Bath Hospital from a church collection plate. He left Bath in disgrace, settled in Reading and died there in 1792.