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.
Artwork Details
- Title: Wooded Landscape with Cows beside a Pool, Figures and Cottage
- Artist: Thomas Gainsborough (British, Sudbury 1727–1788 London)
- Date: 1775–80
- Medium: Soft-ground etching with aquatint, printed in gray ink
- Dimensions: sheet: 10 1/4 x 13 1/16 in. (26 x 33.2 cm)
- Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937
- Object Number: 37.43.10
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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