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Creator:
Thomas Gainsborough, 1727–1788
Title:
Open Landscape with Horsemen and Covered Cart
Date:
between 1780 and 1788
Materials & Techniques:
Gray and black wash, with traces of black and white chalk on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 10 3/4 x 14 inches (27.3 x 35.6 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in graphite, verso, upper left: "No. 3"

Collector's mark: [illegible] - original TMS entry reads: "Similar to Heawood 1849 [Fleur-de-Lyes]" [watermark]

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.5438
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
cart | figures | genre subject | grass | horsemen | horses (animals) | houses | houses | laborers | landscape | path | people | pool | puddle | stump | tower (building division) | trees | wagon | water
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:9641
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Although Thomas Gainsborough's success in his own time rested on his portraits, his real passion was for landscape. He would frequently relax by drawing landscapes in the evening after a long day painting portraits. This drawing was perhaps produced on one such evening, the artist exploiting the rapidity with which he could set down ideas in watercolor on paper. It is a prime example of the freedom and economy with which Gainsborough could conjure up an image. With only a few loose monochrome washes and a hint of chalk, he has suggested a group of travelers on foot and horseback making their way along a country road with a covered wagon.

Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 24-26, no. 7, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]


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