Print made by Thomas Gainsborough RA, 1727–1788, British, Wooded Landscape with Herdsman and Cows, 1797
- Title:
Wooded Landscape with Herdsman and Cows
- Date:
- 1797
- Medium:
- Soft-ground etching and aquatint on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
- Dimensions:
- Sheet (cropped inside plate): 11 x 13 3/4 inches (27.9 x 34.9 cm) and Image: 10 1/8 x 12 7/8 inches (25.7 x 32.7 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite, on back, lower left: "W 9' /16 | 212 /1 L"; lower right: "3/"
Lettered upper left: "10"; lower left: "Defigned & Engraved by Thos. Gainsborough."; lower center: "Pubd. as the Act directs Augt 1ft, 1797, by J.&J. Boydell No.90, Cheapside; & at the Shakfpeare Gallery, Pall Mall."
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1977.14.11607
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- cows | genre subject | herdsman | landscape | rocks (landforms) | shepherd | trees | woods
- Access:
- View by request in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open to Yale ID holders by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:31236
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
Gainsborough was an active printmaker but rarely published prints in his own lifetime. He began making private experiments with aquatint from the early 1770s, possibly with advice from Paul Sandby. This new technique was about the only method of graphic reproduction that could come close to capturing the effects of Gainsborough’s painterly draftsmanship. The plate for this print was made in the mid 1780s and is typical of the kind of rustic scenery that Gainsborough was producing at the end of his career through which he sought an immediate emotional response from the viewer. His mind invariably conjured up images of rural life whenever he fantasized about escaping the drudgery of routine work painting portraits. This impression was published by John Boydell in 1797 after Gainsborough’s death.
Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11)
The Creative Printmaker (Joseph and Margaret Muscarelle Museum of Art, 1986-03-05 - 1986-04-20)
The Creative Printmaker (Yale Center for British Art, 1985-07-09 - 1985-09-01)
Thomas Gainsborough (Tate) (Musée du Louvre, 1981-02-07 - 1981-04-26)
Thomas Gainsborough (Tate) (Tate Britain, 1980-10-07 - 1981-01-04)
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