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Landscape with sheep and cattle on the bank of a stream

Maker

(artist)
1727-1788

Title

Date of Production

1780 - 1784

Medium

synthetic black chalk with stumping on wove paper, all four corners cut

Dimensions

Height: 28.5 cm
Width: 37.8 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2432

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

This pastoral landscape, with its incidental details of a bridge and some cattle, was probably done from imagination rather than life, as was typical of Thomas Gainsborough. Here, he laid out the composition with energetic strokes of black chalk and used a stump (a tool whose end blends the chalk marks) to render shadows as well as the softer tones of the distant church and hills. The attention to everyday detail is characteristic of Gainsborough’s landscapes, even though they represent idealised scenes.

Provenance

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

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Pen to Brush: British Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/11/2021-28/02/2022

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

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

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 ...Less

Literature

Hayes, John, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1970
no. 631 and on p. 82
pl. 407

English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1965
cat. no. 13

Gainsborough drawings, London; York City Art Gallery; four other venues, 1960-61
cat. no. 53 ...More

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. 13
pl. I

Woodall, Mary, Gainsborough's Landscape Drawings, London 1939
no. 364 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Verso, right upper edge: "J WHATMAN".

Inscription: Verso: lower left, graphite: "one". Mount (removed, now lost, recorded in file), Verso: pen and ink: "Gainsbro" (apparently shared this mount with D.1952.RW.2428).

Collector's mark: none.

Label: In P&D Portfolio (not in file)? Handwritten in pencil: "Backing paper from old mount (now kept separately from file), with crowned fleur de lis watermark. Used for paper repairs. Lower right: 'Gainsborough'".

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