Woodland Scene with a Peasant, a Horse, and a Cart

Thomas Gainsborough

ca. 1760 · Watercolor, gouache (bodycolor), gray wash and black chalk · Drawings and Prints

This boldly drawn colored drawing belongs to a series executed in the 1760s, when Gainsborough lived in the spa town of Bath (1759–74). Drawings from that period use contrasts of light and shadow to make forms fresh and legible, and are among the artist's most highly finished. This sheet belongs to a group that the artist gave to Goodenough Earle, owner of Barton Grange, near Taunton, Somerset. Descending in the family, the drawings were sold in 1914 by Knoedler & Co., New York, mostly to American collectors.

Artist

Thomas Gainsborough

Date

ca. 1760

Medium

Watercolor, gouache (bodycolor), gray wash and black chalk

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Mr. and Mrs. Isaac D. Fletcher Collection, Bequest of Isaac D. Fletcher, 1917