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Image

A loosely rendered black and white chalk sketch of a landscape. In it is a cottage surrounded by trees. Figures and cows hide are barely visible within the landscape.
A loosely rendered black and white chalk sketch of a landscape. In it is a cottage surrounded by trees. Figures and cows hide are barely visible within the landscape.
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  • A loosely rendered black and white chalk sketch of a landscape. In it is a cottage surrounded by trees. Figures and cows hide are barely visible within the landscape.
  • A loosely rendered black and white chalk sketch of a landscape. In it is a cottage surrounded by trees. Figures and cows hide are barely visible within the landscape.

Thomas Gainsborough

Wooded Landscape with Cottages, Figures, and Cows

Description

Maker

Thomas Gainsborough (English, 1727-1788)

Title

Wooded Landscape with Cottages, Figures, and Cows

Year

ca. 1760-1780

Medium

  • Black chalk with stumping and white chalk on blue laid paper (faded)

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Black chalk with stumping and white chalk on blue laid paper (faded)

Materials

chalk, white heightening, stump

Supports

  • Faded blue paper

Dimensions

26 x 36.5 cm (10 1/4 x 14 3/8 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number

71.153.1

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

Selection II: British Watercolors and Drawings from the Museum's Collection

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer
Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum
Mar 12, 2022 – Sep 04, 2022

Label copy

This glimpse of a woodland cottage vibrates with the energy of Thomas Gainsborough’s mark-making. Harmoniously combining black and white chalks on toned paper, the artist employed raw directional hatching for the trees, broadly blending the two chalks to produce a vaporous gray tone. Sharp accents of pure white suggest the sun breaking through the leaves. Gainsborough’s idiosyncratic technique creates a surprising balance between the soft focus of the peaceful scene and the electric vitality of his graphic vocabulary.

The English Eye
British Painting from the 17th to the 19th Centuries; Contemporary British Art; Old Master British Drawings and Watercolors; British Picture Books for Children; Three Centuries of British Decorative Arts, Textiles, and Costume
Jun 21, 1991 – Sep 01, 1991
Selection II
British Watercolors and Drawings from the Museum's Collection
Apr 13, 1972 – May 14, 1972

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Tombstone

Thomas Gainsborough (English, 1727-1788)
Wooded Landscape with Cottages, Figures, and Cows, ca. 1760-1780
Black chalk with stumping and white chalk on blue laid paper (faded)
26 x 36.5 cm (10 1/4 x 14 3/8 inches)
Anonymous gift 71.153.1

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We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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