Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Landscape with Horse and Cart, and Ruin

Thomas Gainsborough
1727-1788

Landscape with Horse and Cart, and Ruin

1770-1775
8 3/4 x 12 1/4 inches (222 x 312 mm)
Oil paint, lead white chalk, watercolor, over black chalk, varnished, on laid paper.
III, 55

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

Notes
Around the mid-1770s, the rolling topography of the natural setting, the gothicizing trees, and the shadowy atmospheres that characterized Gainsborough's earliest compositions gave way to wide clearings bathed in a Mediterranean brightness, inspired by the masterful Italianate landscapes of Claude Lorrain (1604/5-1682) and Gaspard Dughet (1615-1675). It was at this time that Gainsborough also tended to greater technical experimentation. By mixing different media and applying a thick coat of varnish to the surface of the finished sheet, he produced landscapes that mimicked the visual effects of oil paintings. -- Exhibition Label, from "Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawings."
Inscriptions/Markings
Stamped in gold with monogram at lower left, "TG".
Associated names
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Bibliography
Bolzoni, Marco S. Thomas Gainsborough : Experiments in Drawings. New York : The Morgan Library & Museum, 2018, p. 57, no. 6, repr.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, III, 55.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department