Winding Lane with Peasants and Cattle

Artist Thomas Gainsborough (Sudbury, England, 1727 - 1788)

Date1770-1779

Mediumblack chalk and stump heigh on paper

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsSight Size: Height: 26.4 cm, Width: 32.3 cm
Frame: Height: 43.9 cm, Width: 58.2 cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 1954 with income from the Webster Bequest.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG002415

Keywords

Historic Title

(verso) Landscape Sketch

About MeThomas Gainsborough earned his livelihood painting portraits of local gentry but these he regarded as pot-boilers, preferring landscape as a subject for his art. Influenced by the work of the seventeenth century Dutch master, Jacob van Ruisdael and the French Classicist, Claude Lorraine, he painted generalised views in the classical, picturesque style.

Gainsborough preferred to draw his images from a combination of memories, imagination and from models set up in his studio, rather than directly from nature. In spite of these conventions, his skill lay in the ability to capture his scene in a few deft, summary chalk marks which remained fresh to the eye.
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Gainsborough's income came mainly from portraits of local gentry, but he preferred painting landscapes, usually in his studio from memory, imagination and sometimes models.