- 176
Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.
Description
- Thomas Gainsborough, R.A.
- Wooded landscape with shepherd, sheep and mountains
Black chalk heightened with white on blue paper
Provenance
J. Defett Francis (1815-1901) (L. 1445);
C.R.N. Routh;
with Agnew's, London, by 1949; by whom sold in 1953 to a British Private Collector
Catalogue Note
This undulating landscape, with its mountains, trees, sheep and shepherd was clearly of great interest to Gainsborough. Dating to the mid 1780s, the present drawing relates to his large oil on canvas Extensive Wooded Upland Landscape with Drover and Pack-Horse, Mother holding a Child and Shepherd Seated on a Bank, Sheep and Distant Mountains (Private Collection).1
There are two further recorded drawings by Gainsborough of this composition, each with subtle compositional differences. The first can be found in the Birmingham City Art Gallery,2 while the second last appeared on the open market at Anderson Galleries, New York, on the 9th April 1919, lot 173, and its current whereabouts is unknown.3 We would like to thank Hugh Belsey for his help in cataloguing this work.
1. J. Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1982, p. 551, no. 170
2. J. Hayes, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1970, p. 285, no. 772, pl. 221
3. J. Hayes, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London 1970, p. 286, no. 773