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Thomas Gainsborough
Wooded Landscape with Peasants in a Wagon

About the Item

Thomas Gainsborough R.A. (1727, Sudbury - 1788, London) Wooded Landscape with Peasants in a Wagon oil on panel 35,5 by 29,8 cm. Provenance Charles, Viscount Eversley (1794-1888); By whose Estate sold, London, Christie's, 9 May 1896, lot 56, to Agnew; With Thos. Agnew Sons, London; With Howard Young, New York, by 1928; With Robert C. Vose, Boston; From whom purchased by Miss Helen Norton, Boston and Montreal, 19 January 1931; Purchased from her executrix, Verina L. Thornton, by Vose Galleries, Boston, 24 May 1968; With Vose Galleries, Boston; From whom purchased by the present owner. Literature "Notable Works of Art now on the Market," in The Burlington Magazine (Advertisement Supplement), December 1969, reproduced plate LXXIV; J. Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, A Critical Text and Catalogue Raisonné, Ithaca 1982, vol. II, pp. 425-426, cat. no. 86, reproduced (as not seen, painted circa 1765-6; incorrectly listed as oil on canvas). This painting is related by John Hayes (see Literature) to a large work, Wooded Landscape with Country Wagon, Milkmaid and Drover, that Gainsborough painted for exhibition at the Society of Artists in 1766. In a number of small paintings datable to the mid-1760s, Gainsborough experimented with simple yet grand compositions, with increasing emphasis on the foliage. His practice of making these small model landscapes as a way of thinking through and carrying forward a design had become his preferred working method. In addition, Gainsborough often looked to the works of the Dutch 17th century landscape painters for inspiration and, indeed, the present painting seems to have been based on a work ascribed to Pieter Molijn (1595-1661), an artist whose works appeared in Gainsborough’s own personal collection. Here, massive trees dominate the left side of the composition, which opens up to the distance at right. In the final exhibited work, Gainsborough filled both sides and the entire upper portion of his canvas with foliage, overpowering the wagon and other elements of the composition, and echoing the somber grandeur of landscapes by Jacob van Ruisdael. To be included in the forthcoming catalogue of the works of Gainsborough, under the direction of Hugh Belsey. Known for his portraits, Gainsborough himself considered himself primarily a landscape painter. But landscapes were not marketable in England at the time, and the artist's main income came from portraits. Nevertheless, in Gainsborough's work, landscape plays no less of a role than portraits, both in quality and quantity. John Hayes links this painting to a large-scale work, Forest Landscape with Cart, Milkmaid and Herd, which Gainsborough painted for an exhibition at the Society of Artists in 1766. 1 In small paintings like the present one, created before the mid-1760s, Gainsborough experimented with simple and complex compositions, with increased emphasis on the depiction of trees and foliage. The practice of creating small landscapes as an attempt to look through and see the overall pattern and intent became his preferred method of working. In addition, Gainsborough often turned to the works of seventeenth-century Dutch landscape painters for inspiration. With the study of the Old Masters, Gainsborough's landscapes developed an emphasis on the background. The glittering dales, highlighted by light and beckoning to the viewer, give the landscapes of the mature period depth. Gainsborough skillfully combined the realism of the Dutch landscape with the lightness and decorativeness of the French one. The artist's style of painting became increasingly broad and free, and the color layer more fluid. Gainsborough drew inspiration for this work from a painting attributed to Peter Molyneux (1595 - 1661) and, of course, the painting present seems to have been based on the work, an artist whose work appeared whose work was in Gainsborough's personal collection2. Massive trees dominate the left side of the composition, opening to the right. In the landscape painted for the exhibition, Gainsborough filled both sides and the entire top of the canvas with depictions of tree crowns, balancing both parts of the composition and echoing the somber majesty of Jacob van Reisdal's landscapes3. The changeable play of light and shadow in the dense foliage is given a dramatic quality that is offset by the overall lyrical mood of the landscape. The lightness of the brush and the freedom of the painterly manner shades the compositional clarity. The main role here is played by light. It, for the first time, begins to play a constructive role. The landscape is permeated with light, but the light is not bright, the scattered light of the English sky. It is light that is the main innovation of Gainsborough in the field of landscape, which opened the way to its further development up to Romanticism and the paintings of John Constable, an admirer of Gainsborough's work.

Creator:
Thomas Gainsborough (1727 - 1788, English)
Dimensions:
Height: 13.98 in (35.5 cm)Width: 11.74 in (29.8 cm)
Medium:
Canvas,Oil
Period:
18th Century
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Tallinn, EE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU2243214176962

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