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Lot Essay
In the 1970 catalogue raisonné Dr Hayes dates this drawing to the mid- to later 1780s. However, having examined it in the flesh at the time of the Hetherington sale he suggested a slightly earlier date, possibly late 1770s. He draws a comparison with a wooded landscape in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (op. cit., 1970, p. 251, no. 616). 'The loose treatment of the foliage and the rough highlighting in white chalk are identical with the wooded landscape with castle in Budapest' (Hayes, loc. cit.).
In his supplement to the catalogue raisonné (op. cit., 1983, p. 371), Hayes uses the present drawing as an example of Gainsborough's style of the late 1770s and early 1780s, and compares it to a Constable drawing that almost exactly imitates this style. Constable is known to have had black and white chalk drawings by Gainsborough hanging in his parlour and Hayes suggests that the drawing purchased by the Tate Gallery in 1971 may be a copy of a Gainsborough, known to him (op. cit., 1983, fig. 1). The Tate drawing 'includes the kind of evening effect for which Constable so admired Gainsborough's poetic landscape'.
In his supplement to the catalogue raisonné (op. cit., 1983, p. 371), Hayes uses the present drawing as an example of Gainsborough's style of the late 1770s and early 1780s, and compares it to a Constable drawing that almost exactly imitates this style. Constable is known to have had black and white chalk drawings by Gainsborough hanging in his parlour and Hayes suggests that the drawing purchased by the Tate Gallery in 1971 may be a copy of a Gainsborough, known to him (op. cit., 1983, fig. 1). The Tate drawing 'includes the kind of evening effect for which Constable so admired Gainsborough's poetic landscape'.