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Wooded landscape with deer

Maker

(artist)
1727-1788

Title

Date of Production

1785 - 1789

Medium

black and white chalk with stumping on laid paper with false border made of grey and brown ink lines

Dimensions

Height: 31 cm
Width: 41.9 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2433

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

The artist and diarist Joseph Farington (1747-1821) wrote that Gainsborough “was passionately fond of music and drawing”. Indeed, Gainsborough produced landscape drawings throughout his life. They can be seen as a recreational outlet from his career as a successful portrait painter.

Drawing offered the chance to experiment with different media. Here, the delicate handling of chalk and the stumping on the smooth paper emphasize the elegant deer, an unusual subject for Gainsborough. Additions of white heightening capture the soft light falling on this idyllic woodland glade.

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

Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976-78

An exhibition of paintings and drawings by Thomas Gainsborough, 1727-1788, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, 20/05/1951-02/06/1951

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

British country life through the centuries, 39 Grosvenor Square, London, 1937

Exhibition of late 18th and early 19th Century Art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1933 (Jun.-Jul.) ...Less

Literature

Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976 - 1978
cat. no. 11

Hayes, John, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1970
no. 662

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

Woodall, Mary, Gainsborough's Landscape Drawings, London 1939
no. 368

Exhibition of late 18th and early 19th Century Art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1933 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: centre: Strasburg lily above filigree "W" (no match found in Churchill or Heawood, same "W" used in a Whatman mark - Churchill 415 - dated 1782).

Inscription: Recto: lower left, within the drawing, black chalk:? looks as though a word beginning with “D” is written there, but could simply be part of the landscape; lower right edge, graphite, modern hand: “Gainsborough”. Verso: upper centre edge, graphite: “X / 2”; right upper edge, graphite: “Day 154”; lower right, brown ink: “Gainsbro”

Label: Verso: lower right, printed in black: "BROUGHTON".

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

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