Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. (1727-1788)

This powerful drawing is almost abstract in composition and the sweeping contours form a vortex that completely fills the sheet. The composition is more enclosed than most of his late drawings with only a glimpse shown of the distant landscape. Hayes dates the drawing to the mid to late 1780s. However, it is slightly atypical for this period as the sense of movement in the drawing dominates the composition, rather than the subject matter. This can be said to anticipate the later 1780s compositions. The tiny hints of coloured chalk carefully build up the foreground detail and the freedom and fluidity of the wash add to the dynamism of the drawing.

John Heywood Hawkins (1803-1877) of Bignor Park, Sussex was a highly important Victorian collector who formed a collection of about seventy Gainsborough drawings of uniformly high quality. Hawkins like William Esdaile, was an important collector of Gainsborough's drawings. Both were amateurs who put together collections of the finest prints of their period.
We are grateful to Hugh Belsey of Gainsborough's House, Sudbury for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.