Crossword Genius

Artist acquires a bit of English capital (12)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

gainsborough

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'artist' is the definition.
(Gainsborough is an example)

'acquires a bit of english capital' is the wordplay.
'acquires' becomes 'gains' (gaining is a kind of acquiring).
'a bit of english capital' becomes 'borough' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'gains'+'borough'='GAINSBOROUGH'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for gainsborough that I've seen before include "English portrait and landscape painter, d. 1788" , "Artist" , "Thomas -, eighteen century English painter" , "Lincolnshire town -- 18th-century English painter" , "See 14" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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