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Wooded upland landscape with cottage, figures and cows

Maker

(artist)
1727-1788

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1785

Medium

black chalk and grey wash on wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 28.3 cm
Width: 36.8 cm

Accession Number

D.2007.DS.16

Mode of Acquisition

Dorothy Scharf, bequest, 2007 (March)

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

This drawing demonstrates Gainsborough’s skill in creating a subtle range of tones and textures from a single medium: the pale wash-like effects, made by rubbing black chalk with a tightly rolled ‘stump’ of leather or paper, contrast with the emphatic outlines of the figures and foliage. Gainsborough's biographer wrote that his “manner of penciling was so peculiar to himself, that his works needed no signature.” After moving to Bath in 1759 and establishing himself as a portraitist, Gainsborough had started experimenting with this type of landscape, which he composed from the imagination rather than after nature, using tabletop models.[CP, 2014]

Provenance

given by the artist to Dr William Pearce, Bath (ca. 1751-1842); by whom presented to his solicitor, Henry Whitehead (dates unknown); by descent to Miss Frances Whitehead (dates unknown); her sale, Sotheby's (London), 30 November 1978, lot 139; purchased there by John Morton Morris & Co. (London); purchased there by Miss Dorothy Scharf, London (1942-2004); Scharf Bequest 2007 The above derived from the 2008 'Master Drawings' article by Hugh Belsey.

Exhibition History

A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany, The Morgan Library, New York, 30/05/2014-07/09/2014

A Dialogue with Nature: Romantic Landscapes from Britain and Germany, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/01/2014-27/04/2014

British Watercolours from the Scharf Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 15/10/2008-01/01/2009

Literature

Belsey, Hugh, 'A Second Supplement to John Hayes's "The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough"' in 'Master Drawings', Winter 2008 - 427-541; 46, no. 4
no. 955
fig. 3 on p. 544

Hayes, John, 'Gainsborough Drawings: A Supplement to the Catalogue Raisonne' in 'Master Drawings', Winter 1983; XXI, no. 4
no. 955

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, upper right corner: "J WHATMAN".

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: none.

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