Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.

Probably Schomberg House sale, March–May 1789, lot 68;
Mrs. Gainsborough sale, London, Christie's, 2 June 1792, lot 82, where unsold;
Margaret Gainsborough, by 1799;
George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (1762–1830);
Anonymous sale, London, Christie's, 29 June 1814, lot 21, to Rutley;
Sir George Warrender (1782–1849) by 1817;
By whom sold, London, Christie's, 3 June 1837, lot 21, to Stuart (as painted by Gainsborough for the Prince of Wales);
Sir Thomas Baring (1772–1848);
His sale, London, Christie's, 2 June 1848, lot 61 (as 'a lodge in Windsor Park, with royal children descending some stone steps') where unsold;
Sir Thomas Baring (1799–1873), by 1854;
Anonymous sale, Robinson and Fisher's, 21 June 1900, lot 109, to S.T. Smith;
John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (1867–1943), New York, by 1900;
Thence by descent to his daughter Mrs. George Nichols;
With Coleman Galleries, New York, 1951;
From whom purchased by Robert Perret, Kinderhook, New York;
Anonymous sale, New York, Christie's, 30 May 2009, lot 54.

Probably, London, Schomberg House, 1789, no. 68;
London, British Institution, 1817, no. 25;
London, British Institution, 1840, no. 84, as including portraits of George IV and the Princess Royal when children.

Athenaeum, 10 June 1848, p. 585;
L. Marvy and W.M. Thackeray, Sketches after English Landscape Painters, London c. 1850;
G. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, London 1854, vol. II, p. 189;
G.W. Fulcher, Life of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., London 1856, pp. 194 and 204;
W.T. Whitley, Thomas Gainsborough, London 1915, p. 342;
W.T. Whitley, 'An Eighteenth–Century Art Chronicler: Sir Henry Bate Dudley, Bart.', in The Walpole Society, XIII, Oxford 1925, p. 61;
T. Borenius, 'Gainsborough's Collection of Pictures', in The Burlington Magazine, May 1944, p. 109;
'American Colonial Mansion' and 'Thackeray on a Gainsborough', in Antique Collector, October 1995, p. 223 and 224, reproduced;
E. Waterhouse, Gainsborough, London 1958, pp. 120–121, no. 991;
K. Garlick and A. Macintyre, The Diary of Joseph Farington, London 1979, vol. IV, p. 1153;
J. Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1982, vol. II, pp. 43–465, cat. no. 116, reproduced.

ENGRAVED:
Lithographed by Louis Marvy, for Sketches after English Landscape Paintiners, c. 1850.

The canvas has been relined, resulting in a flattened paint surface. The paint surface has thinned, particularly in the sky. A restored U-shaped tear measuring approximately 12 cm is visible at the upper right edge. A restored diagonal tear of approximately 10 cm is visible at the upper left edge. A restored vertical tear of approximately 12 cm is visible at the centre left edge. There are scattered areas of paint loss around the edges, due to frame abrasion. Much of this has been infilled and retouched. Scattered retouching is present in the sky, vegetation, figures and architecture. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals an even varnish and confirms the above mentioned retouchings. The work is offered in a French Empire style gilt molded frame in excellent condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Although the condition of the paint surface has suffered, study of Louis Marvy's lithograph of this painting, made a decade after it's second British Institution exhibition in 1840, gives us a sense of the impact that this painting would have had at a time that Gainsborough was launching himself back into London life. Dated by Hayes to 1774–7, the years directly following his departure from Bath and his settling in London, this sizable canvas belongs to a period during which Gainsborough, once again at the centre of artistic life, surpassed even the most accomplished and poetic landscapes of his Bath period. 

Gainsborough's motif of the white country house among trees first appears in a large and unfinished landscape painted earlier around 1768 from the estate of A.C.J. Wall.¹ The motif has here been developed, and the house has been brought into the foreground, allowing it to play a more imposing role within the composition. The horse to the right of the steps, down which the two children descend, appears in another canvas produced by Gainsborough around the same time, in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.²

The identification of the two children as George IV and The Princess Royal in the title of the painting at the time of the British Institute exhibition in 1840 is presumably due to the royal provenance of this work; it once formed part of the celebrated collection of George IV.

1. Hayes 1982, cat. no. 96, reproduced.
2. Hayes 1982, cat. no. 119, reproduced.