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Landscape with cattle on a road running through a wooded valley

Maker

(artist)
1727-1788

Title

Date of Production

1785 - 1789

Medium

synethetic black chalk, black and grey wash, white and grey bodycolour (mixed with lead white) on laid paper; large amounts of black chalk transference on verso

Dimensions

Height: 27.6 cm
Width: 39.3 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2428

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

‘Mr Gainsborough’s manner of penciling was so peculiar to himself, that his works needed no signature’, wrote the artist’s biographer Edward Edwards in Anecdotes of Painters in 1808. Gainsborough’s free and fluid handling of black chalk is evident in this landscape. His late drawings, of which this is a typical example, are not records of actual locations. Instead, he used landscape as a vehicle for imaginative expression. Not intended for public display, they were collected by connoisseurs who appreciated this private side of Gainsborough’s art.

Provenance

Joseph Joel, Lord Duveen, London (1869-1939); given by him to Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d.; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Frick Collection, New York, 02/10/2012-27/01/2013

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2012-09/09/2012

A Passion for Drawings, Collectors at the Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 28/02/2002-09/06/2002 ...More

English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/06/1979-01/09/1979

European Landscape Painting, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 14/09/1978-26/10/1978

English Landscape Drawing and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/05/1977-01/06/1977

English Landscape Drawings [catalogue not found], Rye Art Gallery, England, 1971

English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/01/1965-01/05/1965

A Selection of Drawings from The Witt/Courtauld Collections, University of Sussex, Falmer, 1964

Master Drawings from the Witt and Courtauld Collections, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 17/11/1962-22/12/1962

Old Master Drawings from the Witt Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, 01/09/1960-01/10/1960

Gainsborough drawings, London; York City Art Gallery; four other venues, 1960-61

Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1958-59

Drawings from the Witt Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art, St James's Square, London; York City Art Gallery; Peterborough Art Gallery, 1953

Old Masters from the Witt Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 01/01/1943-01/05/1943

A Loan exhibition of English and French paintings and drawings, Wigan Grammar School, 06/04/1938-30/04/1938

Gainsborough exhibition, Sir Philip Sassoon's house, London, 1936

British Art Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 06/01/1934-10/03/1934 ...Less

Literature

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection, New York and Courtauld Gallery, London London 2012-2013
no. 40
ill. on p. 189

English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1979
cat. no. 19

European Landscape Painting, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 1978
cat. no. 41
ill. ...More

English Landscape Drawing and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1977
cat. no. 9

Hayes, John, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1970
no. 760

English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1965
cat. no. 11

Anthony Blunt and Philip Troutman, Master Drawings from the Witt and Courtauld Collections, 1962
cat. no. 6

Gainsborough drawings, London; York City Art Gallery; four other venues, 1960-61
cat. no. 52

Old Master Drawings from the Witt Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, 1960
cat. no. 10

Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1958 - 1959
cat. no. 54

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 22

Drawings from the Witt Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art, St James's Square, London, York City Art Gallery and Peterborough Art Gallery, 1953
cat. no. 12

Woodall, Mary, Gainsborough's Landscape Drawings, London 1939
no. 373

Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of British Art 1934, Royal Academy, 1934 Oxford 1935
no. 609
pl. CXLVIII (a)

Witt, Robert, 'Some Old Master Drawings of the English School' in 'The Antique Collector', December 1935
ill. on p. 380

British Art Exhibition: commemorative catalogue, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1934
cat. no. 1144
no. 609
pl. CXLVIII ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: centre: Strasburg lily (unable to see clearly enough to further identify).

Inscription: Mount (removed, now lost, recorded in file), Verso: pen and ink: "Gainsbro" (apparently shared this mount with D.1952.RW.2432).

Collector's mark: Verso: lower left, stamped in black: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).

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