Thomas Gainsborough, English, 1727-1788
Title: Landscape with Cattle
Date: c.1767
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
128 x 99 cm
Credit Line: Bequeathed, Sir Hugh Lane, 1918
Object Number: NGI.796
ProvenanceCarl Friederich Abel; Greenwood's, 13 December 1787, Abel Sale, lot 45; John Crosdill, by 1814; by descent, General Thoyts to Mrs Hautenville Cope; Christie's, London, 6 May 1910, anon. [Cope] sale, lot 93, bought by Sir Hugh Lane; sold to Arthur Grenfell; Christie's, London, 26 June 1914, Grenfell sale, lot 45, bt. by Sir Hugh Lane; bequeathed, Sir Hugh Lane, 1918
Exhibition HistoryPicture by the Late William Hogarth, Richard Wilson, Thomas Gainsborough, and J. Zofani, British Institution, London, 5 May-20 August 1814
Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School, Royal Academy, London, 1876
The Works of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., Grosvenor Gallery, London, winter and spring 1885
Fine Art Club, Ipswich, 1887
Pictures by Old Masters given and bequethed to the National Gallery of Ireland by the Late Sir Hugh Lane, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1918
Thomas Gainsborough Bicentenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1927
Landscapes by Thomas Gainsborough, Nottingham University Art Gallery, Nottingham, November 1962
Gainsborough, Grand Palais, Paris, February - April 1981
Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School, Royal Academy, London, 1876
The Works of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., Grosvenor Gallery, London, winter and spring 1885
Fine Art Club, Ipswich, 1887
Pictures by Old Masters given and bequethed to the National Gallery of Ireland by the Late Sir Hugh Lane, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1918
Thomas Gainsborough Bicentenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1927
Landscapes by Thomas Gainsborough, Nottingham University Art Gallery, Nottingham, November 1962
Gainsborough, Grand Palais, Paris, February - April 1981
Label TextCattle move slowly across a sun-drenched landscape, directed by a herdsman and peasant girl, in this tranquil landscape. Gainsborough painted this scene while living in Bath. Realistic details show his close observation of nature, but he also consciously studied great artists of the past. The landscape is inspired by a painting of Dordrecht by the Dutch seventeenth-century artist Albert Cuyp. Gainsborough created a more dramatic composition through the inclusion of a great sweep of clouds. In Gainsborough’s time Cuyp's painting was owned by his friend, the musician Carl Abel.