Wooded Landscape with Cows beside a Pool, Figures and Cottage

Pairs of creatures punctuate the moonlit landscape, arranged as if to illustrate the progress of love: at the left, two cattle nestle together; in the center, a human couple reclines companionably on a log; and at the right, a standing figure leans pensively against a staff, accompanied by a loyal hound. The apparently simple scene-probably made in the later 1770s, given its refined drawing style-was hard-won. Gainsborough completed this soft-ground etching using a variety of techniques: he strengthened lines in the foliage with an engraver's sharp burin; formed the smooth light areas in the sky with aquatint; and preserved the white color of the paper on the cow's back by stopping-out. Yet, despite such virtuoso passages, Gainsborough eschewed technical perfection and simply ignored the defects on his copper printing plate that created the lateral lines resembling creases in the sheet.