Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) British. 'A Wooded Landscape...

Estimate

£500 - £800

Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) British. 'A Wooded Landscape with a Cottage by a Pool', circa 1770's, Pencil, 7.3" x 8.9" (18.5 x 22.8cm). Notes: The composition in this previously unrecorded drawing is immediately familiar from Gainsborough's celebrated series of Cottage Door pictures of the 1770's. A number of his paintings and drawings portray variations on the theme of a small, simple cottage with an overhanging thatched roof, sheltered by trees, and often with water nearby. The main variable in terms of composition is the arrangement and number of the figures and animals. The present drawing includes a rapidly sketched, single figure, close to the cottage. He holds a stick, and a horse, or possibly a cow, stands in profile beside him directly facing the door. This striking juxtaposition is found in other Gainsborough drawings of the subject, such as the 'Landscape with Cottage and a Man with a Dog' (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett). The splatters of ink still present on this sheet, together with some old rubbing, particularly in the structure of the cottage, suggest that it may well have been a working drawing which spent some time loose in the artist's studio. It appears that some outlines of the cottage have consequently been strengthened, at a later date, to re-establish its focus. Nonetheless, details such as the horse and figure, the fence, together with some of the more tightly drawn areas of the trees, succeed in the creation of a lively drawing which bears witness to both Gainsborough's imagination and his skill as a draughtsman. Hugh Belsey has confirmed that this is a previously unrecorded drawing by Thomas Gainsborough.