by-nc

Wooded landscape with figures, cattle and cottage

Maker

(artist)
1727-1788

Title

Wooded landscape with figures, cattle and cottage

Date of Production

(circa) 1781

Medium

black chalk with stumping, black wash, lead white, pen and black ink on laid paper [lead white flouresces purple under UV]

Dimensions

Height: 35 cm
Width: 27 cm

Accession Number

D.1967.WS.46

Mode of Acquisition

William Wycliffe Spooner, bequest, 1967

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords







Label Text

The manner in which Gainsborough depicts trees and foliage is perhaps the most distinctive aspect of his drawing style. His loosely-handled line, long diagonal strokes and scallop-edged leaves, seen in this rapidly sketched pastoral scene, were much imitated by successive draughtsmen, especially John Constable. Gainsborough believed that generalized shapes of animals, trees and people enabled spectators to recreate his landscapes in their own minds.

Provenance

Arthur Kay, Glasgow (1861-1939); his sale, Christie's (London), 23 May 1930, lot 26; purchased there by Percy Moore Turner, London (ca. 1877-1951); David McAdam, first Viscount Eccles (1904-1999); purchased from him by Colnaghi (London), 22 March 1956; purchased there by William Wycliffe Spooner, Ilkley (1882-1967), 1 June 1956 (£350); Spooner Bequest 1967

Exhibition History

British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum and Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005

British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005; Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, 18/07/2005-23/10/2005; Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, London, 16/11/2005-12/02/2006

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1974 ...More

English Watercolours: The Spooner Collection and Bequest, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol, 11/05/1973-02/06/1973

Masters of the Watercolour - Watercolours from the Spooner
Collection
, Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 1969

Royal Academy of Arts Bicentenary Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 14/12/1968-02/03/1969

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/04/1968-01/07/1968

English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe
Spooner
, Harrogate, 1968

A loan exhibition of English drawings and watercolours in memory of the late D.C.T. Baskett, Colnaghi, London, 30/07/1963-23/08/1963

Old master drawings, Colnaghi, London, 10/05/1956-14/06/1956

Two hundred years of British painting, Public Library and Art Gallery, Huddersfield, 16/05/1946-13/07/1946

Drawings by Thomas Gainsborough, Oxford Arts Club, 10/06/1935-15/07/1935

Exposition retrospective de peinture anglaise XVIIIe et XIXe siecles, Musee Moderne, Brussels, 12/10/1929-01/12/1929

Bicentenary memorial exhibition of Thomas Gainsborough: illustrating the various periods of his work, also the work of his contemporaries and his influence on the art of his own and later times., Ipswich Museum, 07/10/1927-05/11/1927

Aselection of studies & drawings by Thomas Gainsborough, R.A, Colnaghi, London, 1906 (May)

English art, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, 1904 ...Less

Literature

The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours, Courtauld Institute Galleries; Huntington Library; Wordsworth Trust, 2005-06
cat. no. 9
ill. on p. 91

Derow, Jonathan P., 'Gainsborough's Varnished Watercolor Technique' in 'Master Drawings', 1989 - 259-71
p. 264

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1974
cat. no. 6 ...More

English Watercolours: The Spooner Collection and Bequest, City Art Gallery, Bristol, 1973
cat. no. 25

Hayes, John, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1970
no. 500

Masters of the Watercolour - Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 1969
cat. no. 31

English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe Spooner, Harrogate, 1968
cat. no. 5
ill. on p. 5

The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1968
cat. no. 26

Old master drawings, Colnaghi, London, 1956
cat. no. 49
pl. IX

Woodall, Mary, Gainsborough's Landscape Drawings, London 1939
no. 331

Vasari Society, Second Series, Part I, Oxford, 1920
p. 11
no. 16 ...Less

Inscriptions

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

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: none.

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