Wooded Landscape with Herdsman and Cattle, early 1770s, Thomas Gainsborough R.A., British, 1727–1788, 8 3/8 × 11 7/8 in. (21.27 × 30.16 cm) (image)16 1/2 x 20 3/8 x 1 7/16 in. (41.91 x 51.75 x 3.65 cm) (outer frame), India ink, white lead, black chalk and watercolor, on wove paper, varnished, England, 18th century, Though best known for his magnificent portraits, Thomas Gainsborough preferred painting 'landskips' (as he called them) and played a key role in establishing the importance of landscape in British art. As a young artist he enjoyed the beauties of his native Suffolk countryside. After moving to Bath, to pursue the regular income the spa town could provide a portrait painter, he had less time for gamboling through the fields. Instead, he fashioned miniature landscapes, using broccoli for trees, bits of cork or coal for stones, fragments of mirrors for water, and whatever else was to hand. He dedicated an oak folding table to this purpose and would set it up in his parlor. This is not to say he never again drew from nature, but many of his mature landscapes are fantasies deeply informed by experience.
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